Fire Within Me
by fanwriter1245
Summary: Englehorn's daughter joins him on his latest voyage, but all is not well. Sadie Englehorn has not yet forgiven her father for abandoning her five years ago, and things get even more awkward when her stubbornness quickly clashes with Jimmy's. Sometimes it just takes a near-death experience to realize what is most important. Includes a peek into Jimmy's past. JimmyxOC
1. Your Father is Back

**Well, I don't usually write two OC stories for the same category, but when I was watching this movie for the thousandth time, all of these ideas came to me, and I couldn't just NOT write it!**

* * *

"Mom!" Sadie called as she came through the door of her home. "There wasn't much I could buy for two dollars, but I did my best."

"It's okay, hon," her mother said tenderly. "I…um, I need to talk to you."

"Is something wrong?"

"Uh…your father is back for a little while."

Sadie froze and looked at her mother. "I haven't seen him in five years."

"I know. Well, he's back, and um…he wants to see you."

"Why should I? He left us, Mom."

"I know, but he's still your father. He loves you."

"But he loves his ship more."

Her mother sighed and folded her hands together nervously. "Look…he asked me if you would come on his next voyage with him. He said he's going to Singapore. That's a nice place to visit."

"Mom, he captures animals and sells them to zoos and circuses. Most of the time illegally."

"Well…this isn't going to be one of those trips. There's going to be a film crew on board. You may know the director. Carl Denham?"

"Carl Denham?" Sadie said in disbelief. "His movies are terrible. All he ever does is put his actors in the jungle and make the women get naked."

"Okay, bad example. But I think that this trip could be good for both of you. I know that he hasn't been there for you these past few years, but I truly think he wants to try and change that." Seeing that her daughter wasn't responding, she added, "His ship sets sail in three days. Honey, you're an adult and I won't force you to do anything, but at least promise me you'll think about it."

Sadie sighed and started putting the few groceries away.

Later, she went to meet her friend, Amanda, to talk about what she should do.

"I mean, Mom really wants me to go, but I don't know if I can stomach being on a ship with my father for that long," Sadie lamented. "He left when I was fourteen. He just couldn't stand to be away from the sea for longer than a day. Even before he left, I never really saw him very much."

"Maybe so, but if he really does want to fix his relationship with you, there's no better way to do it than this."

"It would be kind of nice to see everyone again. Daddy used to take me on his ship with him sometimes. Back when he still cared. His crew was always so nice to me, and you could see that they were all so close with one another. I think they liked to see a female on board for once. It broke up their monotonous routine."

"That's kind of cool that he did that for you."

"It's not that Daddy didn't love us. It's just that he put the ship over us. His priorities were messed up."

"Well, then it sounds like he's realized that and wants to change it. I think you should take your mom's advice and go with him. Besides, who knows? If Carl Denham is on the ship, maybe you might get to be in a scene and become famous."

Sadie laughed lightly. "I'll pass on being in one of Carl Denham's films. But I did hear that Jack Driscoll is writing the script."

"Seriously? Then how bad can the movie be? He's a great script writer!"

"I suppose. And maybe being in the midst of all that can help distract me from what's going on between me and Daddy."

"It sounds like you've made up your mind."

Sadie sighed again. "I think I have."

"You'll have to tell me all about it when you get back."

"I will. Thanks, Amanda."

The two girls hugged before Sadie left to go start packing for the long voyage ahead of her.

* * *

Sadie's heart was pounding as she walked to the docks with her bags in tow. She hadn't seen her dad in so very long. And they hadn't really parted on the best of terms.

Her father was speaking with one of the crew members. When the crew member saw who was approaching, he quickly pointed her out to Englehorn.

Englehorn turned and froze at the sight of his daughter. "Sadie," he said quietly.

"Hi, Daddy."

"You…you've gotten so big."

"Yeah, a lot happens in five years."

"Well, you look marvelous."

Sadie bit her lip. She had almost forgotten about her father's German accent. Luckily for her, she had gotten her mother's American accent.

"Uh…I'm glad you decided to come," he continued awkwardly.

"I'll decide if this was the right decision when the trip is over."

"Englehorn!" someone called. Sadie turned to find none other than Carl Denham. He quickly began to walk up the gangplank. "Cast off! Hoist up the mainsail, raise the anchor, whatever it is you do. We gotta leave!"

"I cannot do that," Englehorn said dryly. "We are waiting on the manifest."

"What? Who? English, please," Carl said as he came over to where he and Sadie were standing.

"Paperwork, Mr. Denham."

Carl leaned in close to him. "I'll give you another $1,000 if you leave right now."

"You haven't given me the first $1,000 yet."

"Can we talk about this later? Can't you see we're in the company of a VIP guest?"

Sadie looked to where he was motioning and saw an absolutely gorgeous woman standing near the gangplank. She had bright blonde hair and amazing crystal eyes that reminded her of the ocean. She held her back erect, but she looked intimidated by what was around her. She looked tough though, like she had been through some very rough times but didn't let it stop her.

Englehorn went over to her and shook her hand. "Ma'am."

"Ann Darrow," the woman introduced.

"Sadie Englehorn," Sadie said, shaking her hand as well.

"So are you ready for this voyage, Miss Darrow?" Englehorn asked Ann.

"Sure."

"Nervous?"

"Nervous? No. Why? Should I be?"

"It isn't every woman who would take such a risk."

Sadie rolled her eyes. Her father was always far too overdramatic. Nevertheless, Sadie was thankful that she wouldn't be the only woman onboard. The men may all be nice to her, but she would still go a little crazy without any contact with another female.

Carl discreetly motioned to someone, and a man quickly came up behind Ann. "Uh, why don't I show Miss Darrow to her cabin?"

"Wonderful idea," Carl smiled. "Thank you, Preston."

"Miss Darrow, if you would just…Hi. My name is Preston. Carl's assistant."

Carl turned to Englehorn. "$2,000. It's a deal. Will you take a check?"

"Do I have a choice?" Englehorn said.

Carl quickly wrote out a check for Englehorn while Sadie watched. She had a bad feeling that she had made the wrong decision.

"Mr. Hayes!" her father called. An African-American man came over to them and Sadie smiled broadly.

"Hello, Mr. Hayes!"

"Sadie!" the man said as he lightly hugged the girl. "It's been far too long!"

"It's wonderful to see you again."

"Mr. Hayes, show Sadie to her cabin please," Englehorn ordered.

"It would be my pleasure, ma'am," Mr. Hayes smiled. Sadie smiled back as she took one of her bags in her hand. "Oh, no, we'll take care of your bags for you."

"We?"

"Jimmy!"

A young boy around Sadie's age quickly came over to where Hayes was. "Yeah, Mr. Hayes?"

"Help take Miss Sadie's bags to her cabin."

Sadie looked at the boy. She had never seen him before, so he must've joined the crew after her father left. She would be lying if she didn't admit that the first thing that popped into her mind was how attractive he was. "Hello," she greeted politely. "You must be newer than the others. I'm Sadie."

"Jimmy."

"Nice to meet you."

Mr. Hayes and Jimmy took Sadie's bags for her and led her to her cabin. The hallways were a bit more cramped than she remembered, but that didn't surprise her. She had gotten bigger since the last time she had walked through the halls. Mr. Hayes opened the door for her, and she was greeted with a very, very tiny cabin.

"Thank you, Mr. Hayes."

"It's no trouble. We'll leave you to get settled in."

Jimmy and Mr. Hayes set down her bags and left the room, with Jimmy lingering just a tad longer than to be expected.

Sadie looked around her and blew a puff of air out through her cheeks.

This was going to be a long voyage.

She was putting away her clothing and belongings when the sound of someone yelling out curses caused her to turn around. She exited her cabin and walked to the railing.

"I keep telling you, Jack, there's no money in theater," Carl said as he came up next to the man. "You're much better off sticking with film."

"I don't do it for the money, Carl," Jack replied angrily. "I happen to love the theater."

"No, you don't. If you really loved it…you would have jumped."

Carl left as Sadie came up to Jack. "You're Jack Driscoll, I presume?"

Jack nodded at her, his mouth in a thin line. "That's me."

"Sadie Englehorn. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Jack shook her hand, and she felt him squeezing it a bit tighter than necessary. "Likewise."

"If it makes you feel any better, I don't want to be here either."

"Then why are you here? Part of Carl's film?"

"Oh, heavens no. Not in this lifetime. No, I'm the captain's daughter. He invited me along."

"I see."

"Mr. Driscoll," Englehorn called. "I see you've met my daughter. It appears you are on this trip to stay. Choy will show you where to go."

A small Asian man quickly ran up to them.

"Hi, Choy!" Sadie smiled.

"Hi, Miss Sadie! It pleasure to see you again."

Choy began to guide Jack below the ship where the cages were.

"How do you like your cabin?" Englehorn asked Sadie.

"It's lovely. Small, but it'll do."

"You probably won't spend much time in your cabin anyway."

"You're right. I'm going to finish unpacking."

"Come to the steering room before you retire."

Sadie nodded and returned to her cabin. She finished unpacking everything, but she noticed something was missing. She had brought several books with her to keep her occupied, yet she was sure she had brought at least one more with her. Perhaps it had fallen out of her suitcase in all the rush.

With any luck, she would find it on the ship somewhere.

Sadie then headed to the steering room per her father's request. But when she passed by the kitchen, she couldn't help but peek her head in.

"Lumpy?" she called.

"Sadie?" the cook said as he looked up from the dish he was making. "You are a sight for sore eyes!"

Sadie smiled broadly as she went up to him and hugged him. "It's good to see you again."

"What brings you back here?"

"From what I've heard, my father wants to make up for the time he's lost. We'll see what happens."

"It's great to have you back on the ship!"

"Thanks. I'm heading to the steering room. I just wanted to see if my favorite cook was still here."

"Not leaving for a long time, darling."

She left the kitchen and resumed her trek to the steering room. Once there, she knocked on the doorframe.

Her father turned to look at her. "Sadie."

"Yes, it's me."

"How old are you now?"

"Nineteen."

"Wow. So you're an adult now."

"Yes, I am."

"You've grown so much."

"That's generally how it works."

"I didn't expect such a beautiful young woman to greet me at the harbor."

"Daddy, please don't try so hard. I think we both know how I really feel about coming on this trip. For both our sakes, let's take it slow."

Englehorn nodded slowly, and Sadie left the steering room to return to her cabin.

Collapsing onto her bed, she sighed heavily as she stared at the ceiling. She was beginning to regret her decision to come onto the ship.


	2. Day One

When Sadie awoke, she groaned lightly when she remembered what she had done to herself.

Deciding that complaining wasn't going to do anyone any good, she got up out of bed and got dressed.

There was a knock on her door shortly after she had finished dressing.

"Come in!" she called.

Mr. Hayes opened the door with Jimmy behind him who looked like he wanted the earth to swallow him whole.

"Sorry to bother you, Sadie, but I believe that you are missing something."

Mr. Hayes gently pushed Jimmy forward towards Sadie. He bit his cheek and refused to make eye contact with her. Then he shamefully held two books out for her. She took them and realized that they were the books she had lost! Jimmy had stolen them!

"Thanks," she said without a smile. "I was wondering where these had gotten to."

Jimmy pushed past Mr. Hayes and ran out of Sadie's cabin.

"Sorry about that," Mr. Hayes apologized. "I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen again."

"It's all right," Sadie lied.

Mr. Hayes left her room and Sadie looked at her books. She couldn't believe that boy had the nerve to steal from her! And to think that she had thought he was cute!

She put the books in her small closet and hid them under some of her clothes. Then she headed to the kitchen to grab some breakfast. Though if her memory served correctly, Lumpy's cooking left something to be desired, and she wasn't about to be well-fed.

"Sadie!" Lumpy called when he saw her. "Come on in. Fancy my porridge?"

Sadie gulped at the sight of the lumpy white mass in the pot he was stirring. "I'll pass for now."

"Sadie, is it?" Carl asked. "Pleasure to have you onboard. If you're interested, I might include you in some scenes we shoot."

Sadie smiled at him. "Over my dead body."

"I'll pay you a hundred bucks."

"Mr. Denham, I've seen the way you throw around money. You're probably drowning in debt by now. Unless you show me one hundred cash dollars in your hand ready to give to me, the answer is no."

Some of the crew members secretly smiled at one another. It wasn't every day they saw a woman shoot down Carl Denham.

Carl pursed his lips. "Alright, fine. Then will you at least do me a favor and take these notes to Jack? He's down below the ship in—"

"I'm the captain's daughter, Mr. Denham. I know where to find him."

Carl held up his hands. "Yes, ma'am."

Sadie went down below where her father kept all of the cages. To think that animals were forced in here against their will only to be sold into captivity made her angry at him all over again.

"Mr. Driscoll?" she called. She walked over to the largest cage and found Jack sitting at a typewriter. He looked extremely pale, like he was about to throw up at any second. On this ship though, that wouldn't be the worst thing she'd ever seen.

"What?" he mustered out as he looked up at her.

"Um…Carl wanted me to give you these notes. I guess it's to help you write the script for this movie he's making."

Jack groaned nauseously. "Thanks, Sadie."

"No problem. And uh…for the record, you really shouldn't stay down here if you're seasick. It helps to move around and get accustomed to the movement of the ship. Not only that, but being around stuffy cages isn't helping and you could use the fresh air."

"I'll try to keep that in mind."

"I also don't think you should be writing when you feel so sick."

"I've got to get this done. Carl needs it so he can start shooting."

"Carl can wait if it means you give him your best work. Right now, I don't think you're giving your best work."

"I'll be fine, Sadie."

"Suit yourself."

Footsteps sounded on the stairs and Sadie turned to find Jimmy walking down with a plate of food. Sadie glared at him, still bitter about him stealing from her. He purposefully avoided her piercing glare.

"Compliments of the chef," he said as he walked into the cage. He set the plate down next to Jack.

Jack took one look at it and keeled over, getting even more nauseous than before.

"Lamb's brains in walnut sauce," Jimmy said with a small smile.

Sadie looked at him with fury. Was he really getting a kick out of watching Jack nearly get sick? She shook her head and looked away from him.

"Jimmy," Mr. Hayes said as he came down the stairs. Jimmy came out of the cage and went over to him. "You run those ropes up on deck like I told you?"

"Doing it now, Mr. Hayes," Jimmy answered, attempting to go back up the stairs.

Mr. Hayes roughly stopped him and grabbed his wrist. "How about you return Mr. Driscoll's pen first?"

Jimmy opened his hand and a very expensive fountain pen dropped to the floor. Sadie scoffed. That boy was such a thief! First her books, now Jack's pen?

Mr. Hayes released him, and Jimmy ran up the stairs. Mr. Hayes then picked up the pen and handed it back to Jack.

"He don't mean no harm," he told him.

"Thanks," Jack said with a sick smile.

"I'll keep him out of your way. That goes to both of you. Again, I apologize for those books, Sadie."

"I told you, it's fine."

"She's right," Jack said. "It's okay."

"It's just that he likes it down here," Mr. Hayes continued. "It's where I found him four years ago. Stowed away in one of them back cages. His arm was broken in two places. He was wilder than half the animals in here. Still won't tell me where he came from. But it wasn't anyplace good."

Sadie looked at her feet. She started to feel a bit guilty for judging Jimmy so quickly. But no matter how bad his past was, it didn't really give him the right to steal.

"Sadie, he's about your age. He might be more willing to tell you rather than me."

"I don't know, Mr. Hayes. We're not off to a great start."

"Give him a chance. There's more to him than what you see."

* * *

Sadie returned to the kitchen where some of the film crew had gathered.

"Come back for the porridge, have you?" Lumpy asked.

"Well, it's either that or I starve. Hope you've become a better cook in the last few years," she joked.

"He hasn't," the crew member having his face shaved told her.

"Thanks for the encouragement, Andy."

"Sadie," Carl said, taking her by the arm. "This is our film crew. This is Herb and Mike."

"It's nice to meet you both."

"And you as well," Mike said to her.

She turned back to Lumpy who handed her a bowl of the porridge. Choosing to ignore the odor coming from the bowl, she grabbed a spoon and forced it down her throat.

Mike put on some headphones and began fiddling with one of the instruments he used. "Gonna have the ship's engines all over the dialogue. Seagulls. Camera noise. Wind. Who knows what else?"

"I don't care, Mike," Carl told him. "You're the sound recordist. Make it work."

Sadie rolled her eyes. It wasn't just the director's films that were awful…

Ann stumbled into the room wearing a pretty yellow dress.

"Ann!" Carl said when he noticed her. "Come on in. Let me introduce you to the crew. This is Herb, the cameraman."

"Delighted to meet you, ma'am," Herb said as he shook Ann's hand.

"Likewise," she said politely.

"May I say what a lovely dress!"

"Oh, this old thing? I just threw it on."

Preston frowned. "Isn't that one of Maureen's costumes?"

Ann's eyes widened, and Sadie fought to hide her smile. "Uh, now what does a girl have to do around here to get some breakfast, huh?"

"Lumpy, you heard the lady," Carl said to the cook.

Lumpy turned to Ann. "Fancy my porridge à la walnuts?"

Sadie looked at Ann from the stool she was perched on with a disgusted face. "I don't recommend it."

Ann turned back to the others, quickly losing her appetite at the sight of the porridge.

"Oh, Ann, I don't believe you've met…" Carl stopped when he saw Ann gazing at Mike. "Ann?"

"That's all right, Mr. Denham. I know who this is," Ann told him.

Sadie raised her eyebrows. Ann knew who Mike was? Most people didn't really know the sound recordists in movies, nor did they look at them the way Ann was looking at him.

"Thrilled to meet you," Ann said to Mike. "It's an honor to be a part of this."

Mike looked extremely confused as she shook his hand. "Gee, thanks."

"Actually, I'm quite familiar with your work."

"Really?"

"Yes, and what I most admire is the way you've captured the voice of the common people."

"Well, that's my job."

"I'm sure you've heard this before, Mr. Driscoll, if you don't mind me saying, but you don't look at all like your photograph."

Sadie pressed her lips together, fighting the urge to laugh. Jack, who had come into the room to grab some water, looked up at the sound of his name.

Mike's face deflated as he realized what was going on. "Excuse me."

"Wait a minute, Ann…" Carl said as Mike sat back down.

"He's so much younger in person," Ann told Carl. "And much better-looking."

"Ann, stop. Stop right there."

Sadie watched as Jack slowly approached Ann from behind.

"You see, I was just afraid that you might be one of those self-obsessed literary types."

Mike shook his head. "I'm sorry, I'm not—"

"You know, the tweedy twerp with his nose in his book and his head up his—"

Jack snapped his book shut. Ann turned around and her eyes widened to the size of saucers when she realized her grievous mistake.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Miss Darrow," Jack said dryly.


	3. Actors

Sadie was walking to her cabin when she heard quiet scribbling. She walked into one of the other cabins to find Jimmy drawing on a movie poster hanging on the wall.

"Wow, someone's a Bruce Baxter fan," she said.

Jimmy nearly jumped out of his skin in surprise, terrified he was caught red-handed.

"Whose room is this?"

"Bruce's," Jimmy told her.

"You're kidding me. Bruce Baxter hangs up posters and pictures of himself?" She rolled her eyes. "I hate actors."

Jimmy started fiddling with the pen he was holding. "I suppose you're going to rat me out to Mr. Hayes now, aren't you?"

"Are you kidding? I wish I'd thought of this first."

Jimmy smiled a little and finished the drawing. Sadie looked out the door and saw a shadow on the wall coming towards them.

"Bruce is coming back," she whispered quickly. "Get out of here. Now. It's okay if he finds me here."

"Are you sure?"

"Go!"

Jimmy and Sadie quickly exited the room. Jimmy squeezed past him, but Sadie couldn't get out of the room fast enough and just posed by Bruce's door. Jimmy peered around the corner and looked at her. He didn't want the girl getting in trouble because of him.

"Can I help you?" Bruce asked in a rather snobbish tone.

"I just wanted to meet the big star of the picture," Sadie lied, pretending to fawn over him. "I'm a little starstruck. I've seen so many of your films."

"Is that right? Glad someone on this ship knows talent when they see it."

Sadie forced a smile at him as he went into the room. She rolled her eyes again, silently congratulating herself for her convincing acting. She actually hadn't seen a single Bruce Baxter film, and after meeting him, she never would.

Sadie heard Bruce freak out when he saw his posters tainted from Jimmy's pen. But he didn't come out like she thought he would. Curious, she peeked inside the room to see what had stopped him. He was staring at the poster of himself with the mustache Jimmy had drawn. Sadie looked at the end of the hall and motioned for Jimmy to come over to her. They looked inside the room to find Bruce with a comb on his upper lip as he talked silently in the mirror and pretended to laugh.

Sadie pressed her hand tightly to her mouth to stifle her giggles. Bruce must've heard that because he looked over and saw the two of them watching him.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" he yelled.

"Go, go!" Sadie laughed as she pushed Jimmy down the hallway. The two of them ran up to the main deck, and thankfully saw that Bruce hadn't followed them. "If you get into any trouble, blame me," she told Jimmy as she continued to laugh. "It'll be better if I take the blame instead of you."

"I can't let you do that."

"Captain Englehorn is my father."

"I didn't know he had a daughter."

"Surprise. What does that tell you?"

"Well…"

"Believe me, things will be better if I'm the one who gets in trouble for that."

"You'd take the blame for me?"

"For causing Bruce Baxter grief? In a heartbeat."

* * *

"Sadie!"

Sadie went inside the steering room where Englehorn was. "Yes?"

"I heard you and Jimmy have been bothering Bruce Baxter."

"No, it was just me. I was the one who was bothering him. Jimmy didn't have anything to do with it."

"Sadie, I didn't bring you along on this trip to cause trouble."

"Come on, there's no way that you like Bruce Baxter."

"It doesn't matter how I feel. He's a passenger all the same. Just please try not to bother him anymore."

"Fine." Sadie left the steering room and went to the kitchen. "Hi, Lumpy."

"Sadie, would you mind peeling these potatoes for me?"

"If it means we get to have potatoes for dinner, I would be all too happy."

Sadie hopped up on the counter and began peeling some of the potatoes. Mr. Hayes soon walked into the kitchen.

"Sadie, have you seen Jimmy?" he asked.

"Um, not for a while. Why?"

"He was supposed to do some work on deck and I can't find him."

"Oh, I'll go have a look. That is, if Lumpy doesn't mind."

"Of course I don't mind," Lumpy said. "You're not supposed to be working anyway."

"I couldn't just not do any work while on the ship. Everyone needs to do a little something, including the captain's daughter."

Sadie put the potatoes down and wiped some loose peelings off her dress. Then she headed down to the cabins to find Jimmy, and ended up on the stairs. Jimmy looked up at her and quickly put his finger to his lips. She made her footsteps silent and came all the way down the stairs. Jimmy was listening in on a conversation between Jack and Carl.

"We're filming on an island now?" Jack asked. "When did this happen?"

"Jack, keep your voice down," Carl said. "I don't want the crew getting spooked."

"Why would they get spooked? What's it called?"

"All right. It has a local name, but I'm warning you, Jack, it doesn't sound good." He whispered something to Jack between the bars that Sadie couldn't make out.

"What's wrong with this place?"

"There's nothing officially wrong with it. Because, technically, it hasn't been discovered yet."

Sadie looked at Jimmy with a concerned look on her face. Was Carl really attempting to sail this ship to an island that may or may not exist?

Jack took a deep breath. "Okay. All right. So we arrive at this place. S…K…U…L…L Island."

Carl turned his head and his eyes widened as he looked right at Sadie and Jimmy. Sadie looked away and hurried back up to the main deck. Jimmy followed not long after. Neither of them said a word to each other.

* * *

Sadie was on deck with the rest of the film crew watching them shoot their first scene.

"All right, everyone, from the top! And action!" Carl called.

Ann ran onto deck next to Bruce. "I think this is awfully exciting! I've never been on a ship before!"

"I've never been on one with a woman before," Bruce answered hardly.

"I guess you don't think much of women on ships, do you?"

"No, they're a nuisance."

"Well, I'll try not to be."

"Just being around is trouble."

"Well, is that a thing to say!"

Jack sighed next to her. Evidently, the scene was not going how he envisioned.

"Cut!" Carl called when the scene was over. "It's great. Bruce, wonderful performance. You can relax for 10 minutes." Bruce started walking in their direction. "That was very natural. I felt moved."

Sadie rolled her eyes. Carl was such a pushover and a suck-up.

Bruce smirked, then looked at Jack. "What do you think, Driscoll? Dialogue's got some flow now, huh?"

"It was pure effluence," Jack answered with a thin smile.

"I beefed up the banter."

"Try to resist that impulse, hmm?"

"It's just a little bit of humor, bud. What are you, a Bolshevik or something?" He turned and went back to his cabin.

"Actors," Jack mumbled. "They travel the world, but all they ever see is a mirror."

Jack looked over at Ann who was powdering her nose as she looked at a compact mirror. The reflection landed on Jack for a split second and she quickly snapped the mirror shut. Jack smiled a little, something Sadie noticed immediately.

"You like her," she smiled at him.

"I beg your pardon?"

"That way you just looked at her? I think you like her. Come on, we've been on this ship for several days already. It's enough time to develop small feelings for someone."

"She is beautiful…"

"I knew it. You like her."

Jack laughed and looked away from her in embarrassment. Sadie went over to Ann.

"Miss Darrow, that was an excellent scene."

Ann turned and smiled a little, grateful to see that it wasn't Jack. "Oh, please, call me Ann."

"Only if you call me Sadie."

"I was so nervous. Could you tell?"

"Not one bit. I think you're a natural. Better than Mr. Baxter anyway."

"Wow, thank you."

"And if you can act like you actually enjoy being within three feet of him, you're a wonderful actress in my book."

"Mr. Baxter isn't all bad."

Sadie looked at Ann and smiled. "Yes, he is."

Ann laughed lightly. "He just takes pride in his work."

"Too much pride. Way too much."

"Ann!" Carl called to her. "We're ready to shoot the next scene."

"I'd better go," Ann said to Sadie.

"Good luck!"


	4. A Change of Plans

"Sea legs. Well, you know, sea legs."

Sadie paused in the hallway when she heard Jack speaking.

"Not that you don't have good legs. Just making conversation."

Sadie let out a small laugh as he fumbled over his words in front of the woman he so obviously admired.

"Jeez…Miss Darrow! About the scene today with you and Bruce…"

"I know it wasn't what you wrote," Ann said meekly. "But Mr. Baxter felt very strongly that when a man likes a woman…he must ignore her. And if things turn really hostile, then…No?"

"Interesting theory."

"I know. I should have…"

"It wasn't what I had intended, but…"

"I'm sorry. I was…"

"And you made it your own."

There was a pause before Ann said quietly, "I was nervous."

"It was funny, actually. You were funny."

"Please don't say another word. Good night."

"Miss Darrow," Jack called gently. "You don't have to be nervous."

Sadie raised her eyebrows knowingly. Jack had fallen for her. It didn't take long, but he had clearly fallen for her.

She quickly hurried away before Jack caught her, not wanting to explain that she had been eavesdropping.

Sadie ran up to the deck, but she was trying so hard to get away before she was seen that she slipped and began falling towards the hard deck. But before she could hit the ground, an arm snaked around her waist and back, and she looked up to see that Jimmy had caught her.

Her cheeks reddened with embarrassment as he pulled her back up.

"Thank you," she mumbled.

"No…thank you. I heard you got in trouble with the captain about Bruce's posters."

"It's not a big deal. He just told me not to bother him anymore. See, things are a little…tense between me and my father at the moment. He left my mom and I about five years ago for a life at sea. Now he's trying to fix things between us."

"How's it going?"

"Not as well as he wanted, I'm sure. I'm just so, so…angry at him."

"Things could be worse."

"I suppose so. I just wish he hadn't left."

* * *

Sadie watched at the rear end of the deck as Carl shot another scene. There was a gorgeous sunset in the background as Ann ran to the railing, crying her heart out. Sadie had to admit that Ann was an absolutely amazing actress. She made Sadie want to walk up to her and hug her, even though she knew it was all fake.

Suddenly, Ann's face changed and she didn't look so sad anymore. More like…flustered. Sadie looked over to see Jack behind Carl. She smirked to herself. It appeared the feeling was mutual between them.

Carl looked behind him where Jack was standing then back to Ann. He sighed and looked back at Jack before taking the script pages from him.

"Thank you," he said dryly. "Let's take it—" He lightly pushed Jack on the chest. "Would you please? We're trying to shoot a scene here."

When Carl finished filming, Sadie walked up to Ann. "What was that?"

"What was what?"

"That whole wordless interaction between you and Jack. I saw the way you were looking at each other. Something you want to tell me?"

Ann remained silent, but there was a look in her eye that Sadie could read.

"That's what I thought."

Ann smiled awkwardly and went to change out of her dress. Sadie leaned against the railing of the ship as the sun set lower and lower.

"Sadie," someone said behind her. Captain Englehorn came and leaned against the railing next to her. "Enjoying the trip so far?"

Sadie sighed. "I can honestly say that it's not as bad as I thought it would be. And it's been nice to see everyone again."

"Sadie, I want you to know that…I've always cared about you."

"Daddy…I want to believe that but…"

"I know it's hard to understand why I did what I did, but please know that I never stopped caring for either of you."

"But this life on the ocean was your whole world. And we couldn't compete with it."

Englehorn looked down at his hands. "If I could've, I would've taken you with me. But I couldn't leave your mother alone, and what kind of life would this be for a young teenager?"

"What about Jimmy?"

"Sadie, there's a whole other story there that even I don't fully understand. The fact of the matter is that I wanted what was best for you, and that meant you needed to stay in New York with your mother."

"If you truly wanted what was best for me, you wouldn't have left."

Sadie left the railing and retreated to her cabin. Her mother said this trip would be good for them. Was this really good for anyone?

* * *

Sadie was sitting on the counter in the kitchen peeling some more potatoes as Lumpy did the same, and Carl and Preston sat at the dining table discussing the film.

"If someone were to tell you this ship was headed for Singapore, what would you say?" Mr. Hayes said as he came into the room.

"I would say they're full of it, Mr. Hayes," Lumpy told him. "Well, we turned southwest last night."

Sadie stopped peeling the potato in her hand. If they weren't going to Singapore after all…where exactly were they going? The mysterious island Carl had told Jack about? That may not even be real!

Carl stood up from the table. "Gentlemen, please. We're not looking for trouble."

"No." Jimmy walked into the room and joined the others. "You're looking for something else." He made eye contact with Sadie and they recalled the moment down below where they listened to Carl tell Jack about where they were really going.

Sadie hopped down from the counter and came over to the table.

"Yes, we are," Carl said. "We're going to find Skull Island. Find it, film it, and show it to the world. For 25 cents, you get to see the last blank space on the map."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Lumpy said darkly.

"What do you mean?" Preston asked.

"Seven years ago, me and Mr. Hayes were working our passage on a Norwegian bark.

"We picked up a castaway," Mr. Hayes explained. "We found him in the water. He'd been drifting for days."

"His ship had run aground on an island way west of Sumatra. An island hidden in fog. He spoke of a huge wall, built so long ago, no one knew who'd made it. A wall 100 foot high, as strong today as it was ages ago."

"Why'd they build the wall?" Preston asked shakily.

"Well, the castaway, he spoke of a creature, neither beast nor man, but something monstrous living behind that wall."

"A lion or a tiger," Carl said sarcastically. "A man-eater. That's how all these stories start."

"What else did he say?" Preston asked, seemingly growing more agitated.

"Nothing," Lumpy answered. "We found him the next morning. He'd stuck a knife through his heart.

Carl just laughed. "Sorry, fellows. You'll have to do better than that." He gathered his supplies from the table and started to leave. "Monsters belong in B movies."

"If you find this place," Mr. Hayes said ominously, "if you go ashore with your friends and your cameras…you won't come back. Just as long as you understand that."

Sadie looked from Mr. Hayes to Jimmy. She had a bad feeling about where this ship was headed. If the island did end up being real, then from the sound of it, they were all in trouble.


	5. Life Aboard the Venture

"Hey, Sadie!" Jimmy called. "Come here! You should see this!"

Sadie went to the front of the ship where Jimmy was. "What is it?"

"Look." He pointed down below into the ocean.

Sadie gasped when she saw several dolphins swimming alongside the ship. "They're so beautiful," she remarked.

"We get to see them all the time."

"That must be nice."

Sadie let the wind caress her face as she stood by the railing at the front of the ship. It blew her hair back away from her face and whistled in her ears. She had to admit that as the scent of the ocean reached her nose, she felt more peaceful than ever.

"I love the ocean," she said quietly more to herself than to Jimmy.

Jimmy smiled and put his hand on hers. She looked over at him and smiled back. Sadie had never felt so comfortable around someone like him before, and the same could be said for the young crew member.

* * *

Sadie was alone in the kitchen, sweeping up some of the various peelings and chunks of meat. She turned at the sound of footsteps and saw Ann entering the kitchen.

"Hi, Ann!" Sadie said brightly. "Looking for someone?"

"I just needed something to eat. I've been shooting scenes all day, and I'm famished."

"Well, Lumpy's not here right now, but I'm sure I could make up a little something for you. He's been teaching me how to cook these past few days."

Sadie went through the kitchen, grabbing a couple pots and various pieces of food. She started to make up some vegetables for the two of them.

"How's the movie been going?" Sadie asked as she started cutting up the vegetables and putting them in the pot.

"It's been a challenge. I've never acted on film before."

"Well, from what I've seen, you're a natural. Has Bruce been difficult to work with?"

"Honestly…a bit. He's a wonderful actor, but he never experiments. There's no room for freedom when he acts, which means there's little room for freedom on my part."

"That could get annoying. I just hate it when actors think that just because they're famous, they walk on water."

"You haven't seen that with me, have you?"

"No!" Sadie said quickly. "Not at all. In fact, you're starting to restore my opinion of actors after Bruce pretty much destroyed it." Ann smiled at her. "So, any luck in the…Mr. Driscoll department?"

Ann stiffened her posture. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"Ann, I may only be nineteen, but I'm not stupid. It's very clear that there is some kind of attraction between you two."

Ann paused and then asked quietly, "You think so?"

"Of course I do. I wouldn't say it if I didn't. He's been unable to stop staring at you ever since you shot the first scene of the movie."

"I thought he would hate me after what happened when we first met."

"It could've been worse. Trust me. Besides, that's a thing of the past. You're beautiful, and you're extremely nice and humble. I can understand why he fell for you."

"You flatter me."

Sadie finished cooking the vegetables and placed them in two bowls before coming over to the table and sitting across from Ann.

"What about you?" Ann asked. "Anyone in particular who's caught your eye?"

"Not really. Not as much as you and Jack anyway."

"What about that boy who works on the ship? What's his name…? Um…Jimmy."

"Jimmy?" Sadie laughed. "No, I don't think so."

"Well, why not?"

"I don't know. He's just…not my type."

"What makes you say that?"

"He works on a tramp steamer for one thing. And he steals people's possessions a lot. And I don't really know much about his life before he came onto this ship. But I'm afraid to ask him about it because from what Mr. Hayes said, he won't talk about it. I don't want to upset him."

"The fact that you don't want to upset him shows that you care for him."

"No, it just means I'm being considerate of his feelings."

Ann raised her eyebrows with a smile. Sadie groaned when she realized that she had just proved Ann's point further.

"By the way," Ann added, "Lumpy better watch out. You may put him out of a job."

* * *

A party was held on the rear deck to break up the monotonous routine that had been going on for several weeks. Sadie was all too happy to join in on the festivities since it took her mind off what was happening with her father.

Several of the crew members started playing various instruments with Choy providing some vocals.

"Choy!" Sadie called. "Play my favorite song!"

Choy smiled and began to play _Marie's Wedding_. The other crew members joined in on their drums and guitars and flutes.

Bruce pushed Ann to the center of the group. As Choy began to sing, Ann began doing a small dance from her days working vaudeville.

"Join her!" Mr. Hayes told Jimmy.

Jimmy just smiled and shook his head as he looked at Ann. Mr. Hayes looked over at Sadie, and she smiled knowingly. Together, the two of them pushed Jimmy into the center with Ann. Sadie laughed at his surprise and started clapping along with the music. Jimmy looked at Ann's feet and began to mimic her dance moves. Pretty soon, the two of them were smiling and dancing together.

Sadie was fairly surprised. She had no idea Jimmy was such a talented dancer!

Ann danced over to Lumpy and took his hat from him. Then she danced back over to Jimmy as she put Lumpy's hat on her head. She and Jimmy resumed their fast-paced dance. The two of them latched hands and spun around in a circle. Jimmy picked her up and she fell over his shoulder as the song ended.

Jimmy set her back down and everyone applauded the two of them for their impressive dancing and Choy for his vocal abilities. Sadie did not miss the look Jack and Ann shared with each other.

Jimmy then went over to Sadie as Choy and the crew members started to play _The Rocky Road to Dublin_. "Your turn."

"Oh, no," Sadie said with a small laugh. "I…I can't dance."

"If you're going to make me dance, then you're dancing too."

Jimmy took Sadie's hand and quickly led her to the center of the circle before she could back out. He took one of her hands in his and put his other hand on her waist. Then he led her in a small dance around the deck. At one point, he spun her out and then back into him. He spun her back out again, still holding her hand, and proceeded to move his feet in time with the music. Sadie watched his movement and copied it on the next portion of the song. They did this several times before the two of them began dancing together again.

Sadie took his hand so that one arm was behind her back grasping his and the other was across his chest to take his other hand, and they moved in a fluid circle around the deck. Jimmy took both of her hands and moved out then in on the right side, then back out, and then in again on the left side. He spun her out and when he pulled her back in, he wrapped his arm around her waist while her hand went on his neck and then spun around in a circle. Then they took each other's hands and their feet moved in time with the music all across the deck.

When the song ended, Jimmy swept Sadie up into his arms and spun around with her as she laughed. Their eyes met, and for a split second, Sadie forgot about everything around her. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so happy.

Jimmy set her back down onto the deck, and the two of them went back over to Mr. Hayes. Similar to how Sadie had noticed the look between Ann and Jack, Mr. Hayes noticed the look between Sadie and Jimmy.

* * *

"Hey, Sadie?" Jimmy said as he came up next to her on the railing. "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for taking your books when you first got on the ship."

"Jimmy…if you wanted to read the books, you could've just asked me. I would've let you read them."

"You don't understand, Sadie. Sometimes when I want something, I can't help but just take it. I know it's wrong, and I've tried not to do it, but I just…can't help it."

Sadie looked at him. "You're a kleptomaniac."

"What?"

"Uh…it means you can't resist the urge to steal things."

"There's actually a name for it?"

"In some cases. Yours being one of them, I think."

"Well, is there any way to stop it?"

"Whenever you have the urge to steal something, you need to focus your mind on something else. Something that will make you forget about wanting to take whatever it is you wanted."

"What am I supposed to think about?"

Sadie thought for a second. Then she quickly leaned towards him and gave him a small peck on the cheek. "You can think about that."

She smiled and spun around to return to her cabin.

* * *

"Aim for that spot right there."

Sadie held her father's Luger pistol firmly in her hand. He was currently teaching her how to use a gun, since he wasn't sure what they were about to face in the future. He was also well aware that New York wasn't a pretty place either, especially in such desperate times, and he wanted to feel confident that his daughter could protect herself.

Sadie aimed the gun at a crate that sat on deck. Englehorn had drawn a mark on the crate for her to hit. She fired off the gun and missed the mark completely.

She sighed as she lowered the gun. "That's the fifth time I've missed. This is hopeless."

"It takes practice, Sadie. Reload the gun and try again."

Sadie loaded up the gun again like Englehorn had shown her and then aimed at the mark once more.

Englehorn stood behind her. "Keep both eyes open. Make sure your feet are shoulder width apart with one foot slightly in front of the other. Align your sight properly. Now…shoot."

Sadie fired the gun again and this time, she hit the mark. She gasped lightly as she lowered the gun. "I did it."

Englehorn smiled. "Yes, you did. Alright, let's practice some more. Soon, you'll be able to hit any target, no matter how small, without even thinking about it."

* * *

Later in the evening when the sun was beginning to set, Sadie looked up and saw Jimmy in the crow's nest. She climbed up the rope and sat up there with him. He almost had a heart attack when her head popped up next to him.

"You know, you should start warning me when you're nearby," he said to her as he tried to catch his breath.

Sadie laughed. "Sorry. See anything interesting up here?"

"As usual…not a thing. I usually just sit up here and read."

"What are you reading?"

" _Heart of Darkness_."

"I've read that before. It's an entertaining read. I really enjoyed it."

"Who do you like better? Marlow or Kurtz?"

"Probably Marlow because he knows what he thinks and why he thinks it. He's really confident, and he's seen enough of the world to know the good and the bad parts of it. Kurtz has outstanding charisma and is a good leader, but I feel like he plays things down to make them seem fine, but in reality, it's all one big nightmare."

"But Kurtz is just as eloquent as Marlow."

"Maybe so, but Marlow tells it like it is. Kurtz doesn't."

Sadie shivered as the wind picked up.

"Are you cold?" Jimmy asked.

"A little."

"Here." He took off his jacket and wrapped it around Sadie's shoulders. "Better?"

Sadie smiled as she felt her cheeks grow warm. "Much." She looked out over the sea from their perch. The gorgeous blue of the ocean was framed by the beautiful pinks and oranges in the sky. "The ocean is so beautiful from up here."

"It's pretty cool to get to see this kind of thing almost every night."

"I'm sure. I could stay up here forever."

"Really?"

Sadie looked over and met Jimmy's eyes. "Really."

The two of them ended up talking for hours up in the crow's nest until Jimmy's watch had ended, and it was well past the time for Sadie to be asleep.


	6. Sadie and Jimmy

Sadie rounded a corner on the deck, and saw Lumpy with a cabbage in his hand that had pieces of fruit in it to form a face. She became rather speechless when she saw him speaking to the head of cabbage and about to kiss it.

"Um…am I interrupting something?"

"Sadie!" Lumpy exclaimed as he bolted up and tossed the cabbage away from him. "Uh, the captain wants to see you in his quarters."

Sadie nodded, not really sure how to take what she had just seen. "Alright…thanks, Lumpy."

Sadie walked up the stairs to the steering room and walked inside. She then went to the back room where Englehorn's room was.

"You wanted to see me?"

"I just wanted to know how you've been doing. We haven't spoken much."

"I'm fine, Daddy. I'm staying out of trouble like you wanted."

"I'm glad to hear that. But are you happy?"

Sadie took a deep breath, and she finally found that after spending six weeks on a boat with her father, she could no longer hold back her anger. "No, I'm not happy. At least not when I'm around you. You abandoned Mom and me just as things started to get really bad. You left me to grow up without a father. I _hate_ you for that! I have nothing left for you but _hatred_! I've tried really hard to get along with you this whole time, but the truth is that I _hate_ you!"

"You cannot talk to your father that way!" Englehorn bellowed.

"You stopped being my father when you left me."

Sadie spun around and practically sprinted down below to where the cages were. Thankfully, Jack was not down below as he must've been shooting a scene elsewhere.

Sadie went inside one of the back cages. It was the largest one, next to the one Jack had chosen.

"Sadie?"

Sadie screamed when Jimmy suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the cage. "So that's what that feels like."

"What are you doing down here?"

"…Hiding."

"Well, there's no better place than here. Trust me."

Sadie sat next to him and leaned her back on the wall. "I really wanted to fix things with the captain on this voyage. I really did. But I can't help just hating him for leaving me five years ago."

"I understand."

"He left Mom and me to fend for ourselves in New York City. If Mom didn't have a decent job, I don't know where we would've ended up. I mean, did he even think of what would happen to us when he left?"

"I don't know."

"I wish that he could just understand how I feel."

Jimmy didn't respond, and they just sat in silence for a few minutes. Sadie rested her head on Jimmy's shoulder. She had never met anyone who was such a good listener.

* * *

Jimmy quietly opened the door to Sadie's cabin. She was asleep in the small bed. Her hair was splayed out across the pillow in several different directions. He just admired her for a few seconds longer, taking in her gorgeousness. She looked so beautiful that he almost didn't want to wake her up.

Finally, he crept over to her bedside. He put his hand over her mouth so she didn't alert anyone to his presence. Her eyes popped open in shock. When she realized it was only Jimmy, she quickly removed his hand from her mouth and sat up a little.

"What?" she asked shortly in a whisper.

"Come with me."

"You know, I don't think this is considered very appropriate."

"It'll be worth it."

Sadie quietly groaned. "Turn around."

Jimmy turned around, and Sadie pulled the blanket off her before getting out of bed. Then she grabbed her white translucent cover-up and slipped it over her nightgown.

"Okay. Now why exactly did you wake me up?"

Jimmy grabbed her hand and led her out to the deck. They lay down side by side with their hands behind their heads and gazed up at the beautiful stars above.

"Wow," Sadie murmured. "I will admit that this is rather breathtaking. I've never seen so many stars in the sky all at once."

"See that one?" Jimmy said, pointing to one of the stars. "That's the North Star. Mr. Hayes taught me that. He said that that star has helped a lot of sailors navigate the ocean when they were lost."

At that moment, a bright star shot across the sky.

"A shooting star!" Sadie exclaimed. "Make a wish."

Silence fell between them as each of them sent wishes up to the night sky on the falling star.

"What did you wish for?" Jimmy asked.

"I can't tell you," she laughed. "Then it won't come true."

There was a bit more comfortable silence as they continued to look up at the stars. Sadie recognized some of the constellations that her father had taught her when she was younger.

"It worked, you know," Jimmy said, finally breaking the silence.

"What do you mean?"

Jimmy propped himself up on his elbow and faced her as she did the same. "I almost took something from one of the cabins, but then I thought about what you told me to think about, and…I ended up not taking it. That's the first time that's ever happened."

Sadie smiled a bit, and then met his eyes again. "You really want to know what I wished for?" She paused, and then told him, "I wished that you would kiss me."

Jimmy took her head in his hands and gently pressed his lips to hers. His hand traveled down to caress her neck. Sadie put her hands on his arms and deepened the kiss with him. She loved the sensation of his lips moving against hers in perfect rhythm. Dancing was not his only strong suit. That much was certain.

Up above them, right outside the steering room, Mr. Hayes came out and put his hands on the railing. He caught sight of the two teenagers and gave a small smile. Oh to be young and in love.

Englehorn came out and started to walk up next to him.

"Looks like your daughter is enjoying the trip after all," Mr. Hayes said.

Englehorn looked down to where Jimmy and Sadie were, and he was not happy with what he saw. The young boy kissing his daughter in her _nightgown_ , no less? "Oh, no. That is not acceptable."

He started to go down to stop them, but Mr. Hayes put his hand on his arm. "Captain, leave them be. Sadie is already angry at you, so don't make it worse. Besides, she deserves this after what she's put up with for the past few weeks. And I have never seen Jimmy so happy the whole time I've known him. Just let them have their moment. They're both adults after all."

Englehorn sighed and reluctantly returned to his quarters.

The two teenagers once again lay down on the deck looking up at the sky. Sadie rested her head on Jimmy's chest as his arm wrapped around her.

After a while, Jimmy looked over to see that Sadie had fallen asleep in his embrace. He carefully moved slowly so as not to wake her up, and then he gently picked her up in his arms and carried her back to her cabin.

He laid her down in her bed and pressed a soft kiss to her lips before closing the door to her cabin, feeling as if he was walking on air.


	7. Skull Island

Sadie awoke in bed and immediately smiled broadly when she remembered what had happened the previous night.

She couldn't wait to tell her mother when she got back. Of course, a lot of things could happen between now and the return trip to New York in regards to their relationship…

Well, there was no use thinking about what may or may not happen in the future.

Sadie had never experienced this kind of romantic involvement before. At home, she had had several men interested in her, and she had been on many outings with some of them, but things had never progressed as far as things had between her and Jimmy. She wasn't sure what to think or what to do.

Nevertheless, none of that mattered to her. She was far too ecstatic for it to matter.

Sadie dressed and then went up on deck towards the front of the ship and let the breeze send a wave of goosebumps up and down her arms.

Suddenly, two arms wrapped around her waist from behind while a small kiss was planted on her cheek.

"Good morning," Jimmy said quietly in her ear.

Sadie giggled. "Good morning to you."

"Sleep well?"

"…Better than ever."

"Let me just say that…last night was the best night of my life. And I'm not exaggerating."

Sadie smiled. "I'm glad you think that way. I think it was one of the best nights of my life too."

"You may regret coming on this voyage because of how things are with the captain, but I couldn't be happier that you decided to come."

"After last night…I don't regret coming at all."

Sadie wrapped her arms around Jimmy's neck and pulled him close to her as she gently kissed him.

The wind picked up as their lips met, seemingly enjoying Sadie and Jimmy's new relationship as much as the young couple did.

* * *

Sadie was in her room, waiting anxiously for Jimmy's shift up in the crow's nest to end. Mr. Hayes had made it clear that he had to stay focused while he was up there and that she was not to bother him.

She was reading a book when the loud sound of the foghorn went off, making her jump. Curious as to what was going on, she closed the book and went out on deck next to Jack.

The foghorn went off several more times as the fog got thicker and thicker around them. Sadie could barely see a foot in front of her.

"30 fathoms! No bottom!" one of the crew members called out.

Several moments passed as the ship made a slight turn.

"We have seabed! 25 fathoms!"

"Another reading!" Hayes ordered.

"22 fathoms!"

Sadie tried to see what was ahead of them. It had to be land if they were shallowing, but it was impossible to tell because hardly anything was visible. How was her father steering in this?

"10 fathoms!"

"WALL! THERE'S A WALL AHEAD!" Jimmy screamed from the crow's nest.

Sadie's widened eyes saw what Jimmy was talking about as the fog cleared a bit, and a huge wall came into their vision.

They were going too fast. There was no way the ship could turn in time.

Sadie grabbed onto the railing and braced herself. The ship collided with the wall, and the impact sent her flying. Jack firmly grabbed her wrist and pulled her back upright. The ship began to back away from the wall as a result of the force.

"Rocks!" Jack called out as they saw huge rock formations taller than the ship come through the fog. "Rocks!"

"Rocks to starboard, Captain!" Jimmy yelled. "To port! Rocks everywhere!"

The ship hit several rocks, and went careening through the water. Sadie hung onto the railing for dear life, praying that Jimmy was okay up in the crow's nest.

After sailing through the dangerous waters trying to avoid more rocks, the ship crashed into a huge rock and stuck fast.

Sadie relaxed her death grip on the railing.

"Sadie!" Englehorn called from outside the steering room. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay!" Sadie called back.

Jimmy climbed down from the crow's nest, and as soon as his feet were back on the deck, Sadie ran over to him and flung her arms around his neck, incredibly thankful that he was safe after the treacherous journey the _Venture_ had gone through. She held onto him tightly, letting his shirt ball into her tight fist. His arms wrapped around her waist, and they just held onto each other for a while.

As Englehorn looked at the couple, a small part of him felt hurt that Sadie went straight to Jimmy instead of him. He hadn't realized it, but it occurred to him how much he missed the feeling of his daughter hugging him.

The island looked at the ship as if mocking it. No one knew just what they were about to face.

* * *

Water had started to flow in at the bottom of the ship from all the hits it had taken against the rock.

Jimmy called for Englehorn and then pointed towards the island. "Right there!"

Sadie followed where he was pointing and saw a small rowboat with Carl, Ann, Jack, and some other crew members rowing to the island.

"Want me to bring them back?" Hayes asked Englehorn.

Englehorn turned to face him. "I don't care about Carl Denham." He turned to his crew members. "I want this ship fixed and ready to float on the next high tide! Come on, move it!" Then he turned back to Mr. Hayes. "We're leaving, Mr. Hayes."

Sadie shook her head. Didn't he know that it wasn't just Carl on that boat? Surely he didn't dislike _everyone_ on it.

Jimmy sat reading _Heart of Darkness_ again while he waited for some work to do. He slowly closed the book and looked up at Mr. Hayes. "Why does Marlow keep going up the river? Why doesn't he turn back?"

"There's a part of him that wants to, Jimmy," Mr. Hayes told him. "A part deep inside himself that sounds a warning. But there's another part…that needs to know. To defeat the thing which makes him afraid. 'We could not understand because we were too far and could not remember because we were travelling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are gone, leaving hardly a sign—and no memories. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free."

Sadie had to give him credit for remembering such a long passage from the book. She enjoyed reading it, but she couldn't quote it. The way he spoke the words made the story so much more real to her.

"It's not an adventure story…is it, Mr. Hayes?"

Mr. Hayes looked at him seriously. "No, Jimmy. It's not."

Sadie looked over at the ominous island in front of them, suddenly desiring nothing more than to get out of its sight. She felt as if it was taunting her with the secrets it hid behind its walls.

Out of nowhere, a very loud scream pierced the air that couldn't have come from anyone but Ann. But what followed the scream was a loud and unearthly roar so fierce that made Sadie's very bones tremble.

What could possibly have made that noise…?

"Get us out of here, Hayes," Englehorn ordered quietly.

Sadie marched up to him. "Daddy, you are not leaving those people on that island. They could be in trouble! I don't care about Carl Denham either, but Ann and Jack are my friends, and so help me, if you don't do something, I will dive off this ship and swim to that island. So get some lifeboats and go get them."

"You do not tell me how to run my ship!" Englehorn yelled.

Sadie stared him down, never once breaking her glare.

Finally, Englehorn sighed and said, "Mr. Hayes, prepare a landing party quickly."

Sadie boarded the first boat with Englehorn. They rowed ashore and quickly went deeper into the island to find the others. There were the sounds of loud shouts and yells and screams.

Hadn't Carl believed this island to be deserted?

Sadie's mouth dropped open at the sight of what felt like hundreds of native people restraining everyone who had come ashore.

Englehorn shot his pistol and killed a native who was about to bludgeon Carl to death.

The natives panicked at the sight of one of their own being killed by a mysterious weapon, and began screaming and running into their houses as crew members scoured the place, looking for survivors.

"Ann!" Sadie ran over to a crying Ann and wrapped her arms around her comfortingly. "It's alright, it's alright. You're safe now."

As much as Ann wanted to believe that, she didn't feel safe at all.

Englehorn looked at Carl sharply. "Seen enough?"


	8. The Search Party Begins

The waves were crashing over the ship violently as everyone tried their best to free it from the rock.

"Lighten the ship!" Englehorn ordered. "Anything that's not bolted down goes overboard!"

Seawater got into Sadie's eyes as she tried desperately to help the others throw things off the ship and into the water. Lumpy threw out half his kitchen items leaving her wondering how he was going to continue making food for them.

"Chuck everything except for the potatoes!" he yelled.

Well, at least they would still have potatoes on the journey back. It was better than nothing. Besides, they really needed to get out of here. Something had happened on that island, and Sadie didn't want to stick around to find out what. She couldn't get the sight of Ann looking so scared out of her mind. She had never seen the woman so terrified. And Ann was a tough girl, so if she was scared, it must've been something really bad.

Jack came stumbling out of the kitchen and immediately got hit by a wave. He picked something up from the ground and then ran over to Jimmy and Sadie.

"Where's Ann?" he asked frantically.

"What?"

Another wave hit them. "Where's Ann?" he yelled louder over chaos.

Jack ran off to Ann's cabin in a frenzy when neither of them gave him an answer fast enough. Sadie started down another hallway but quickly wished she hadn't.

On the ground in a large pool of blood was Andy. She felt vomit rise up in her throat at the sight of the dead body. She gagged and went back out to the railing where she got hit by yet another wave. This time she welcomed the cold water as it provided slight relief to her body that was now drenched in a cold sweat.

Jimmy came over to her as the ship finally loosened from the rock. "Are you okay?" he yelled over the waves.

Her breathing came in ragged gasps, unable to get the sight of Andy out of her head.

The ship finally managed to sail away from the island, but their victory was short-lived.

"No!" Jack screamed running to the steering room where Englehorn was. "Stop! Turn back! Stop! We have to turn back." He paused halfway up the stairs. "They've taken Ann."

Everyone looked back in the direction of the island. Sure enough, they could hear the faint sounds of drums beating and fire lighting up the night sky alerting them to the natives' activity.

"All hands going ashore, report to stations!" Mr. Hayes ordered. "Jump to it! Jump to it, gentlemen!"

Everyone grabbed as many guns as they could find on the ship. Englehorn started going into his secret stash of weapons and handed guns to each man.

Sadie ran up to her father's cabin and grabbed his Lugar pistol that she had learned how to shoot. Then she and Jimmy hopped into one of the lifeboats.

They quickly rowed to the shores of the island. Jack bolted off as soon as the boat hit the ground and sprinted to where the natives were.

"Spread out! Find her!" he yelled to the others.

Lumpy started shooting his gun to warn the natives of their presence.

"Miss Darrow!" Mr. Hayes yelled. "Check up there, Jimmy!"

"Everybody stay together!" Englehorn ordered.

"Ann!" Jack cried desperately.

"She's here somewhere!"

The same unearthly roar that they had heard only a few hours ago sounded out again, but this time, it was much louder and fiercer if that was even possible.

"What in God's name was that?" Englehorn whispered.

A loud and very long shrill scream echoed through the night air. Sadie's heart sank to her feet.

"Behind the wall!" Jack yelled. "Behind the wall!" He started frantically climbing the stairs to get to the top of the wall. He was only gone for a few seconds before he came back and yelled to the others, "She's gone!" He slowly came back down the steps and looked over at Carl. "Carl, what is it? You saw something."

Carl just stood there in a state of shock, breathing heavily, unable to answer him.

Everyone started loading up their guns and packing extra ammo to go scour the island and rescue Ann.

"You can take Hayes and 15 others," Englehorn told Jack. "I'll put a guard on the gate until you return. The rest of you stay with the ship." Englehorn looked at his daughter. "Sadie, that means you."

"What?"

"You think I'm going to let you go out on that island after what I just heard?"

"Daddy, I can take care of myself. Whatever is out there can't possibly be that bad."

"You still haven't gotten the hang of using a gun. The answer is no. Get back to the ship."

Sadie sighed as she glared at him and turned around dejectedly. Ann was her friend. She wanted to go help find her with the others. Her father was just way too overprotective. But he didn't have the right to be after he had abandoned her.

"You got guns. You got food. You got the ammo. And you got 24 hours!"

"24 hours?" Bruce murmured.

"This time tomorrow, we haul anchor."

Sadie looked at the men going through the wall to search for Ann. When no one was looking, including her father, she slipped the Lugar pistol into the belt on her dress. Then she slipped through the gate to go off and join the search party.

It didn't take her long to catch up with them. She hung behind them for a few minutes before Mr. Hayes finally noticed the additional member they had to the search party.

"Sadie, what do you think you're doing?" he demanded angrily.

"I just want to help, okay? Look, assuming we do find Ann, it might be good for her to have some contact with another female."

"Is that the reason or are you doing this to spite your father?"

Sadie didn't answer for a second. Then she finally said, "I'm doing this for myself as well, okay?"

Mr. Hayes sighed heavily. "The only reason I'm letting you stay is because I'm not about to let you go through that jungle by yourself in order to get back. But let's get one thing straight. You do exactly as I say without hesitation. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir."

They continued on through the jungle, but they stopped when they heard quiet stomping. In a panic, everyone began shooting their guns over and over again in multiple directions.

"Cut it out!" Mr. Hayes yelled. "Hold your fire! Hold your fire!"

Everyone stopped and listened again as Mr. Hayes lit a flare. Suddenly, a huge dinosaur came barreling straight for them!

Mr. Hayes wrapped his arms protectively around Sadie and forced her to run. They hid behind a portion of an overgrown tree while the dinosaur hit the crew members with its head and body sending them flying every which way. Multiple cracks rang out as several body parts snapped.

"Stay down!" Mr. Hayes ordered as he kept one arm on Sadie. "Stay down!"

Jack ran out and grabbed Preston who was trying to avoid the dinosaur's stomping feet. He got Preston to safety right before he was tossed onto the tree.

"Jack!" Sadie cried.

The dinosaur came after Jack which also happened to be where Sadie and Mr. Hayes were hiding.

Mr. Hayes took his gun and shot the dinosaur several times before it fell over dead. He helped Sadie up from their hiding spot. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said quietly, trying to catch her breath.

"Aren't these things supposed to be extinct?" someone asked as they all looked at the dead dinosaur.

"They are now," Lumpy said.

The group journeyed further into the jungle with repeated shouts of "Ann!" and "Miss Darrow!"

Sadie could hear shrill screams coming from the distance in between loud and fierce roars. A part of her wondered if it would be possible to find Ann alive in such a treacherous place.

They continued walking through the island when they came across hundreds upon hundreds of bones. Human bones.

Jack picked up a strange-looking necklace that had a lock of blonde hair stuck on it. It had to have come from Ann.

"It's a bleeding boneyard!" Lumpy exclaimed. "They've been ripped limb from limb."

Jack threw the necklace on the ground in frustration. "Ann! Ann!"

Sadie went over to him. "I think she's still alive. If…whatever this thing is ate these people, it wouldn't have left all these bones."

"I hope you're right."

The group started to press on deeper into the jungle. The trees were split at the trunks and knocked down in order to make a path for whatever must've taken Ann.

"Just keep walking, Mr. Hayes. Pretend you didn't see me."

Sadie turned at the sound of Jimmy's voice. What was he doing here?

"Jeez, Jimmy. First Sadie, now you." Mr. Hayes furiously took his gun from him.

"Hey, I need that!"

"I'm not giving you a gun!"

"You were younger than me when they gave you one!"

"I was in the army. I was trained. I had a drill sergeant."

Jimmy looked at him with desperation in his eyes. "I wanna help bring her back."

Mr. Hayes handed him the rifle again, but stopped him for a second. "Don't make me regret it."

Jimmy continued walking, and Sadie waited for him to get to where she was. "For what it's worth," she said quietly, "I'm glad you're here."

Jimmy smiled at her and took her hand in his.


	9. Ambushes

Now that it was daylight, the insects present on the island decided to make themselves known, and it appeared they didn't really like the intruders. To Sadie's disgust, the insects were much bigger than the ones back in New York. They kept flying around everyone's face, threatening to leave the members of the party with welts and bites that would never go away.

Lumpy started getting really frustrated and tried to hit some of them with his frying pan. Then he took his gun and furiously attempted to shoot one of them.

"Conserve your ammunition!" Mr. Hayes ordered.

Lumpy shot the insect one more time, then continued on with the others.

Soon, they ended up in a small gorge with a couple of natural bridges overhead. By this point, they had all been walking for several hours and were exhausted. The extreme humidity on the island wasn't helping, and everyone was pouring sweat. It had to be at least 90 degrees by now.

"I'm knackered," one of the crew members said.

"I can't breathe," Lumpy added.

"I need a breather."

Jack looked at all of the men as they began sitting down on some of the rocks. "Fellows, we don't have time for this. We've lost too much ground already. Come on, get up!"

"They're not about to quit on you," Mr. Hayes said to him. "Cut them some slack." He turned to the crew members. "All right, you got five minutes! Everybody stay in sight!"

One of the crew members handed Sadie a canteen. "Here you are, miss. Drink some of this."

"Thank you," Sadie said as she took the canteen. She took a couple gulps of water, letting the cool liquid wash down her throat.

"Bloody Nora!" Lumpy exclaimed.

Everyone turned to find Jack and Lumpy looking at an absolutely huge footprint on the ground.

"Is that what took Miss Darrow?" Jimmy asked.

"There's only one creature capable of leaving a footprint that size." Everyone looked to Lumpy for the conclusion to his statement. "The Abominable Snowman."

Sadie groaned and rolled her eyes. They didn't have time for Lumpy's 'jokes'.

"Yeah, a snowman," one the crew members mumbled sarcastically. "We dead meat."

Mr. Hayes knelt down to Jack's level. "It's got to be what, 20, 25 feet?"

"Carl saw it," Jack said. "Let's ask him."

"Denham!" Mr. Hayes called as he stood up. The man was nowhere in sight. "Where'd he go?"

Sadie rolled her eyes again. "He's going to get himself killed," she said to Jimmy. "He's going to get all of us killed at the rate he's going."

"It's that stupid film of his," Jimmy answered.

"I hate directors even more than I hate actors."

Suddenly, the ground started shaking beneath them. Rocks fell from the sides and threatened to land on some of the crew members. Jimmy instinctively pulled Sadie closer to him and away from the falling rock.

Loud groaning was heard behind them, and they all turned to find Bruce running in their direction.

"What is it? What is it? Where's Carl?" Jack asked him.

"Carl?" Bruce said in a panic. "He's, uh, he's up there, filming."

Bruce continued running down the gorge. The other crew members started to get worried and followed him. Mr. Hayes, Jack, Jimmy, and Sadie stayed behind to figure out what was going on. Soon Herb came limping past them.

Carl came running into their view holding his tripod. "Run, Jack!"

Sadie's mouth dropped open as a herd of Brontosauruses followed him.

"Go, Jimmy! Go, Sadie! Run!" Mr. Hayes yelled.

"Run, run, run!" Jack cried.

Jimmy and Sadie took off running down the gorge to escape from the stampeding dinosaurs.

Never had Sadie run so fast in her entire life. It was impossible to escape the stampede, so they all just tried their best not to get trampled by the dinosaurs' legs. Sadie unfortunately got to witness one unlucky crew member fall beneath a large foot.

As if things couldn't get worse, Venatosauruses ambushed the stampede. The large raptor-like dinosaurs leapt onto the Brontosauruses and tried to catch various members of the party. Mr. Hayes leapt over one and kicked its head in the process.

Sadie would praise him for that later.

She and Jimmy made it to the edge of a cliff and stopped for a second. The Brontosauruses were so large that they couldn't make the sharp turn and began tumbling over the side of the cliff, taking another member of the party with them.

Jimmy pushed Sadie forward and the two of them ran across the edge of the cliff that was quickly beginning to dissolve since it couldn't hold the weight of all the Brontosauruses.

When they finally made it around the cliff, Sadie heard gunshots and the Brontosauruses suddenly started collapsing into one huge pile, crushing more crew members and tossing them all over the place.

Mr. Hayes grabbed Jimmy and Sadie and pushed them against the rock wall away from the collapsing dinosaurs. Sadie tried desperately to catch her breath from all the running as they watched crew members scramble out of the pile before they were crushed.

But they were not in the clear yet. More Ventosauruses that had survived the pile-up were coming after them. Mr. Hayes shot one of them as Jimmy urgently ran with Sadie up to higher ground.

"Sadie, grab my hand!" Jimmy yelled.

Sadie quickly grabbed his outstretched hand and he hefted her up the incline. Once they were a far enough distance away, she turned behind her just in time to see Herb get dragged off by the two remaining Ventosauruses. She closed her eyes and looked away from the gruesome sight. Jimmy gently put his arm around her, unable to look away from the horrors in front of him. Then they pushed on and went to join the others.

Everyone crashed down on the ground by a large lake. They all bandaged each other up and shared their canteens.

Sadie rubbed her temple with her fingers. She was now fully regretting her decision to join the search party. For once, her father was right. She should've just stayed on the ship.

"Jimmy, do a head count," Mr. Hayes ordered. "I want to know how many are injured and how bad."

"Injured?" Lumpy said shortly as he bandaged up Choy's leg. "Four of us are dead!"

Jack began making a raft for them all to cross the lake. People grabbed what large sticks they could find and scrounged out some rope from their supplies to tie them all together.

"Come on, guys, we need more rope!" Jack called.

Bruce wasn't listening. "All right, we gotta get back to the ship. Englehorn sails in nine hours."

"So?" Jimmy said to him. "We gotta find Miss Darrow."

Sadie smiled a little at his determination. The boy was braver than the actor by a long shot.

"Hey, do you hear me? We're gonna be stranded here." He made eye contact with Jack and slowly made his way over to him. "Look, fellows, Miss Darrow was a great gal, no question. And she was a wonderful person. It's a terrible loss and we're all gonna miss her."

"Yeah, _that_ sounded sincere," Sadie said sarcastically. "I'm sure Ann would be extremely touched you put so much thought into that."

"I always knew you were nothing like the tough guy you play on screen," Jack said coldly. "I just never figured you for a coward."

"Hey, pal! Hey, wake up," Bruce said to him. "Heroes don't look like me, not in the real world. In the real world, they got bad teeth, a bald spot, and a beer gut. I'm just an actor with a gun, who's lost his motivation. Be seeing you."

Bruce passed Mr. Hayes and took off back into the jungle to head back to the ship.

"Anyone else?" Mr. Hayes asked the remaining members.

At least four crew members decided to take off.

Mr. Hayes walked over to Sadie. "Sadie, I think you should go with them."

Normally, Sadie would've taken him up on that offer. But now she just couldn't. "I would rather stay out here with you than walk back through that jungle with Bruce as the leader. Besides…I've made it this far."

"Suit yourself."

Two rafts were made and the remaining members of the search party loaded onto them and began to cross the lake. Jimmy sat on one of them with his rifle at the ready with Sadie next to him.

There was movement in the water and large creatures that looked like a freakish combination between a centipede, a sand crab, and a scorpion started coming up from the water and crawling onto the rafts.

Jimmy and Sadie kicked three of the creatures off the raft while others hit them with their sticks or guns.

Then the creatures all swam away at once. Sadie looked over at Jimmy, wondering why they all decided to just take off.

Something knocked against the side of the other raft.

"What was that?" Lumpy asked in a panicked voice.

Sadie slowly gripped Jimmy's hand as she looked around her.

Suddenly, the back of their raft lifted into the air and they propelled forward at an alarming speed. Before they hit the others, their raft split in half and Sadie went tumbling into the water.

She quickly surfaced and looked around to find panicked crew members in the water, some who didn't seem to know how to swim.

Sadie swam over to one of them. "Take my hand!" she ordered. "I'll help you!"

The man was so panicked that he ignored her and instead tried to use her to help keep himself above water. Sadie was thrown under the water as he pushed her down to keep himself up.

"Stop!" she screamed before being plunged under again. She fought to go up and get some air, but the man wouldn't let her.

"Hey, get off her!" Jimmy yelled. He roughly pushed the man off Sadie and quickly brought her to the surface. "Are you alright?"

Sadie nodded as she took some deep breaths of air.

A giant creature the size of a whale came bursting out of the water and swallowed up the crew member Sadie had tried to help before diving back into the water.

When it came around again, Carl furiously shot it with his gun over and over again. The creature swam under the raft and snapped that one in half as well sending the remaining crew members into the water.

The creature swam right for Jack and Preston, but Carl shot at it again which forced it to deviate from its current path.

Jimmy and Sadie quickly swam for the shore. Lumpy pulled the both of them up before anything happened to them, and they fell onto the base of a tree coughing furiously.

Preston started walking towards them with Carl's camera.

"Preston!" Carl called. Carl went straight for the camera, not caring about Preston at all. He set the camera on his lap and started cranking it. "It's working," he sighed with relief. "It's working."

Another crew member was walking towards them when the creature suddenly shot out of the water and clamped its jaws around his body.

Sadie's mouth dropped open in horror as the creature took the crew member below the water.

Lumpy looked at Carl hardly who was still filming. "Get that, did ya?"

Jimmy helped Sadie up and they continued to press on through the jungle.

Sadie was silent for their entire trek. She had seen so many people die in the last few hours and no one even knew if Ann was still alive. Were they doing this all for nothing?

Jack suddenly stopped and shushed everyone. There were quiet crunches around them from the brush that seemed to be getting closer. Sadie unconsciously moved closer to Jimmy.

On his last nerve after everything that had happened so far, Lumpy frantically shot in the direction of the noises.

"No!" Jack screamed. There was a quiet thump. "No…"

Jack ran forward to inspect what it was Lumpy had shot. When they found the source of the noises, Sadie furrowed her eyebrows. It looked like a deformed ostrich. It was on the ground squealing and writhing in pain. Lumpy shot it twice to put it out of its misery.

Relieved that it hadn't been Ann, Jack pressed on with twice as much strength.

After traveling nearly all day with little breaks in between, the party came across a huge and deep ravine. It was nearly impossible to see the bottom. The only way to cross was a rather large log that was covered in overgrown vines.

Mr. Hayes paused and held up his hand.

"What is it?" Jimmy asked. "Mr. Hayes?"

Mr. Hayes walked forward and readied his gun. "If anything happens, I want you and Sadie to run. You understand?"

"I'm not a coward. I ain't gonna run."

"It's not about being brave, Jimmy."

Mr. Hayes slowly went to the large opening on the other side of the ravine. He paused in front of it, and Sadie could hear some loud growls on the other side.

"Go back!" Mr. Hayes shouted. "Back across the log!"

Jimmy went forward, his gun at the ready. "I ain't gonna run!"

"Get Jimmy and Sadie out of here!"

"No!"

"Get back! Get back! Move back!" Jack said as he pushed the two of them behind him.

The members of the party began to inch back the way they had come.

Sadie watched in horror as a huge gorilla came barreling through the opening and swept Mr. Hayes up in his huge hand.

That had to be the monster that had taken Ann! So where was she? Had he killed her? Sadie couldn't find it in herself to believe that. They had worked so hard to find her!

"No! No!" Jimmy screamed.

"Stay back," Jack ordered.

"No!"

Mr. Hayes groaned in pain as the gorilla's hand tightened around him, cutting off his oxygen. "Look at me," he said to the gorilla calmly. The gorilla shifted his gaze from the party to Mr. Hayes.

"Let him go!" Jimmy cried.

"You got to run, Jimmy. Do as I say. Go with Jack. Look after Sadie." He slowly cocked the gun in his hand. "Run!"

He attempted to shoot the gorilla, but the gorilla threw Mr. Hayes against the wall of the ravine before he fell down to the bottom.

"No!" Jimmy screamed at the top of his lungs. He fell onto the log in despair. "No!"

"Shoot him!" Jack commanded.

Sadie couldn't breathe. She had loved Mr. Hayes as if he was family, and she was sure the same could be said for Jimmy. It didn't seem possible that his life had been taken from him.

Everyone started to shoot at the gorilla. Angered, the gorilla came over and started tossing and turning the log. Several other crew members fell off and fell down the ravine. Jimmy fell onto a branch as Sadie tried desperately to stay on the log herself. She clung onto one of the branches with all her might until she felt the skin on her hands break.

With another mighty jolt, the gorilla managed to toss the log down the ravine. Sadie lost her grip on the branch and began freefalling. Before she could completely fall down the ravine, Jimmy grabbed her wrist, nearly yanking her arm out of its socket.

Hands slick from the bleeding cuts, she slipped out of Jimmy's grasp just as the log hit the side of the ravine and everyone fell to the ground.

Sadie hit her head on the hard ground and everything went black.


	10. Insect Pit

"Sadie."

Sadie slowly opened her eyes and groaned as immense pain hit her like a truck. She looked up to find Jack gently shaking her awake.

Remembering everything that had happened, she quickly sat up, ignoring how much it made her head spin. "Where's Jimmy?"

Frantically searching around for him, she found him unconscious nearby. She and Jack quickly ran over to him with Sadie getting there first.

"Jimmy!" she cried as she gently touched his shoulder. "Jimmy."

Jimmy's eyes opened and he immediately began to cry as he remembered losing Mr. Hayes. He quickly sat up and began to sob in Sadie's arms. She gently wrapped her arms around him and rubbed his hair as tears came to her own eyes.

The last two days had put her through more than any nineteen-year-old girl should ever have to face. She was exhausted physically and mentally and now even emotionally. Losing Mr. Hayes was the worst thing to happen on the island thus far. She had never seen Jimmy so upset before and it broke her heart to hold him as he mourned for his father-figure.

The light from the flare Jack had lit slowly began to die down. She slowly looked up and saw various huge insects come out of hiding.

"Jimmy…"

Jimmy looked over as she began breathing raggedly.

Giant insects that looked like crickets began to swarm them while huge worm-like creatures with pink extendable mouths revealed themselves in a small swamp.

One of the crickets jumped onto Lumpy and he frantically moved around trying to get it off him. "Get off! Get it off!"

Jack ran over to him and the cricket decided to jump onto Jack instead and was soon joined by several more insects.

Sadie saw some of the worms begin to devour Lumpy's arms and legs, but he tried to fend them off with his machete. Carl angrily used a stick to fight off the insects coming after him. She flinched as one of the crew members who had been climbing the wall was suddenly snatched up by a claw hidden inside the wall.

Something started tickling her leg and she turned to find some of the crickets at her ankles. She frantically started kicking her feet to get them away from her. Another hopped onto her back and she screamed as she tried to claw it off. She quickly took the Lugar pistol out of her belt and shot the insect in the face. Then she shot the others around her to keep them away from her.

Jimmy grabbed a gun and filled it with bullets. Then he shot all the crickets that had swarmed on Jack.

"Kill it!" Jack cried.

Jimmy shot off several of the crickets. "Stop moving!" he yelled.

Sadie continued to shoot the bugs surrounding her until she ran out of bullets. She tossed the now useless gun away from her and ran over to Jimmy. She kicked away a large insect that was coming after him. All around her, larger spider-like insects were ripping apart the bodies of the deceased crew members who had fallen to the ravine floor.

"Get it off my face!" Jack shouted.

Sadie saw that a huge cricket had latched itself onto Jack's head.

"Stay still," Jimmy ordered.

"I am standing still."

Jimmy shot the cricket then aimed at the one on Jack's waist. "Hold on."

"Be careful!"

Jimmy shot the last cricket away from him. Out of bullets, he tossed the gun to the ground.

More insects started crawling down the walls towards the last remaining members of the party: Jack, Carl, Jimmy, and Sadie.

Sadie clutched onto Jimmy's shirt as he wrapped his arms around her waist. There was no way they could survive this now. There were too many insects that were much bigger than them, and they were out of weapons.

Suddenly, gunfire came from the top of the ravine.

"Don't move! Stay away from the walls!"

Sadie never thought she would be happy to hear her father's voice. She looked up to the top of the ravine with immense relief to find her father and other crew members shooting the insects.

Jimmy guarded Sadie from the raining insects.

"Coming through!"

Bruce swung down on a rope, shooting various insects.

"Get out of there now! Climb!" Englehorn ordered.

Bruce then landed on the bottom of the ravine and furiously shot one of the large ones coming towards them. He turned to the others. "Nobody get in my way."

Sadie looked at Jimmy with raised eyebrows and a small trace of a smile. What on earth had happened to Bruce Baxter?

Jack led Jimmy and Sadie to the rope. "Get up there. Go on. Hurry."

Jimmy started to climb the rope when he looked over. There lay Mr. Hayes's body, miraculously untouched by any of the insects.

Jimmy and Sadie slowly went over to him. Finding his hat on the ground, Jimmy picked it up and dusted it off before putting it on his head.

"It suits you," Sadie said quietly.

"Jimmy…" Jack whispered. "Sadie. Come on."

The two of them went back over to the rope and began to climb up. Jimmy went first followed by Sadie.

"Sadie!" her father called as she neared the top.

"Daddy!"

Sadie held out her hand and Englehorn quickly took it. Then he helped her up to the top of the ravine. Sadie threw her arms around his neck and began to cry.

"I'm sorry, Daddy! I'm so sorry!"

Englehorn was surprised at her actions, but then he allowed himself to wrap his arms around her waist. She felt fragile and almost…broken.

Her hair was a tangled mess, and her dress was ripped in several places and covered in dirt and grime. As he felt her body tremble in his arms, he wondered just what she had been through on the journey.

"It's all right, Sadie," he said softly. "It's all right."

"Thank God," Carl mumbled as Preston also came out of the ravine. He must've jumped off the log and grabbed a vine before they hit the bottom.

"Don't thank God. Thank Mr. Baxter," Englehorn told him as he released Sadie. "He informed me that Sadie was out here and insisted on a rescue mission. Me? I knew you'd be okay, but I wasn't about to risk it for my daughter. That's the thing about cockroaches. No matter how many times you flush them down the toilet, they always crawl back up the bowl."

"Hey, buddy?" Carl called. "I'm out of the bowl. I'm drying off my wings and trekking across the lid."

Sadie went over to Jimmy who put his arm around her protectively.

"Driscoll!" Englehorn called to the other side of the ravine. "Don't be a fool! Give it up. It's useless! She's dead."

As much as Sadie hated it, she had to agree with her father. There was no way Ann could survive this island by herself. After all, they had started out as a group and now almost all of them were dead.

"She's not dead," Carl said quietly. "Jack's gonna bring her back, and the ape will be hard on his heels. We can still come out of this thing okay. More than okay. Think about it. You got a boat full of chloroform we could put to good use."

"You wanna trap the ape?" Englehorn asked in disbelief. He started laughing. "I don't think so."

"Isn't that what you do? Live animal capture? I heard you were the best."

"Daddy…" Sadie said. "You can't."

Carl went to the edge of the ravine. "Jack! Look after yourself!"

"Keep the gate open, will you?" Jack called back.

"Sure thing, buddy. Good luck!"

Jack continued on and soon disappeared from view.

Englehorn, Jimmy, and Sadie started to walk back with the others.

"Daddy, please," Sadie begged. "That animal belongs here. Not on a boat and not in New York. You can't do this."

"I'll decide what we do and don't do, Sadie."

Sadie sighed and shook her head. Her father just didn't get it.


	11. Capturing Kong

The trip back to safety was far less treacherous than the journey into the island. Once they made it back to the wall, Englehorn put his jacket around Sadie's shoulders and gave her some water to drink.

She was not the same person who had gone through those gates. She had been subjected to things he never wanted her to be subjected to. But her stubbornness against him made her defy his orders and join the search party. She got that stubbornness from him. He just wished he had known sooner that she had snuck through the gates. Then he could've gotten to her before she had become so worn down.

He watched as Jimmy held her in his arms. The two of them sat in silence, his arms wrapped protectively around her. He had to admit that from what he knew about Jimmy, the boy would gladly risk his life to protect his daughter.

As the sun began to show its face, loud roaring sounded across the island that could only come from one creature.

"Carl!" they suddenly heard from the other side of the bridge.

"Please!" Ann's voice yelled. "Somebody help us!"

Sadie let out a light gasp. Ann was on the other side of the bridge with Jack! He had actually found her!

"Carl!"

"Drop the bridge. Do it now!" Preston said firmly to Carl.

"Not yet," Carl answered, never taking his eyes off the gate. "Wait. Wait." Preston moved towards him, but Carl held out his hand. "Wait!"

After a few more seconds, Preston could wait no longer. He grabbed the knife from one of the crew members and sliced the rope keeping the bridge up on the other side. The rope snapped and sliced Preston on the face, leaving a deep gash on his cheek.

Ann and Jack quickly ran through the gate and appeared before the remaining crew members. Ann looked pretty rough, but not as bad as Sadie thought she would look after being kidnapped by a giant gorilla.

"Ann!" Sadie ran up to Ann and hugged her tightly. "You're alive! How…how are you alive?"

"Uh…"

Ann wasn't paying attention to her. She was looking around her at all the weapons and chemicals everyone was gathering to capture the ape. They were readying guns, ropes, harpoons, and many bottles of chloroform.

Suddenly, the ape came bursting through the large gate and took a fighting stance in front of all of them.

"Now!" Englehorn yelled. "Throw them! Throw!"

The crew members threw their grappling hooks onto the ape letting them sink into his skin.

"No!" Ann screamed.

"Hold him!"

"Are you out of your mind?" Jack yelled to Carl.

Englehorn threw a bottle of chloroform at the ape and it crashed on the ground underneath his face. The ape noticeably weakened as he began to breathe in the resulting smoke.

"Stop!" Ann cried.

Sadie looked over at Ann and saw tears in her eyes. Had she really grown to like this gorilla that much? Just what had happened to her in the last 24 hours?

"Keep him down!" Englehorn ordered.

Two crew members pushed down a couple of rocks and a net crashed down over the ape, pinning him to the ground.

"Please!" When Ann saw Englehorn about to throw another bottle, she ran to him and desperately tried to grab it from him. "No! Stop!"

Jack ran up to her and tried to pry her off the man.

"Get her out of—"

"They'll kill him!"

"There's nothing we can do," Jack told her.

"No!"

"Get her out of his sight!" Englehorn yelled.

"It's too late," Jack said calmly.

"Throw it!" Carl yelled to Englehorn.

Englehorn threw the bottle of chloroform and the ape became even weaker.

Ann furiously took Jack's arms off her. "Let go of me."

Jack paused for a moment before wrapping his arms around her and practically dragging her back to the ship. "We gotta go. Come on. Come on."

"Stop it. Leave me alone!"

"Ann, please come on."

Noticing Ann struggling against Jack, the ape growled fiercely before ripping the net off him and tossing the crew members into the air.

Sadie looked from Ann to the ape. "Daddy, stop this!" she cried. "He's reacting to Ann struggling!"

"Kill it!" Englehorn ordered.

"No!" Carl yelled. "No!"

"It's over, you lunatic! All of you, run!"

Jimmy pushed Sadie in the direction of the boats and all of them started running away from the ape.

They all frantically tried to ready the oars and row away with the gorilla hot on their heels. A couple of crew members shot at him, but they were soon crushed by his large fist.

Jimmy stood in the gorilla's path and aimed his gun at him. "Come on!" he screamed in a fury.

"Jimmy, stop it!" Sadie screamed. "Come on!"

Jack pushed the both of them into the nearest lifeboat while Englehorn hopped into the other one.

"Come on, Carl!" Jack yelled.

Carl quickly hopped into the lifeboat with the ape right behind him. Another crew member tried to shoot him, but the ape viciously grabbed the crew member and bit his head off before tossing him into the wall.

Jimmy furiously attempted to shoot the gorilla again, angered at him for killing the only man who ever cared for him.

"Jimmy, no!" Jack yelled.

"Stop!" Sadie screamed as she grabbed his shoulders. "Stop it!"

She screamed as the gorilla grabbed the boat and threw it into the wall where it shattered and all the members inside fell into the water.

"Sadie!" Jimmy yelled.

Sadie swam over to him and latched onto him as they stayed near one of the walls and away from the gorilla. She looked over to find her father readying a harpoon.

"Daddy, don't!"

Englehorn fired the harpoon and it sank into the gorilla's leg. The gorilla let out a loud agonized cry of pain. He readied another harpoon as Carl climbed up the rock to the gorilla's eye level.

"Wait!" Carl yelled to Englehorn.

He waited for just the right moment to throw another bottle of chloroform right onto the gorilla's face. It finally weakly sank down onto the rock.

Sadie watched in amazement as the gorilla held his hand out to Ann who had tears streaming down her face. This ape cared for Ann in a way no one thought was possible. Even more shocking was that Ann returned those feelings.

The ape rested its head on the rock and succumbed to unconsciousness.

Carl walked over to the large animal. "The whole world will pay to see this. We're millionaires, boys! I'll share it with all of you! In a few months his name will be up in lights on Broadway! Kong! The Eighth Wonder of the World!"

Sadie made eye contact with Ann. She had never seen the woman look so hurt and betrayed. And after seeing the way the ape looked at her, she didn't blame her one bit.


	12. Jimmy's Story

'Kong' was taken under the ship in the largest cage they had where he was continuously drugged in order to keep him asleep so he wouldn't damage the ship.

No one liked having that animal below them after what had happened on the island.

Ann hardly talked to anyone anymore and she stayed holed up in her cabin or down below with Kong. She hadn't said two words to Jack since they had returned to the ship. She was extremely angry at him for keeping her from seeing Kong on the island and allowing him to rampage after them when she easily could've stopped all that.

Sadie prepared a small bowl of vegetables and went down the steps to the cages.

"Ann?" she called quietly.

She walked forward and found Ann in her usual position. She was hugging her knees to her chest, gently stroking Kong's fur through the bars of the cage.

"Ann?" she said again as she walked forward. "Uh, you really need to eat something. I brought you some vegetables."

Ann slowly shook her head. Sadie sat down on the opposite side of her. It made her nervous to be so close to the giant ape, but she knew he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. If there was one thing her father was good at, it was capturing animals of all sizes.

Sadie held out the bowl for her and Ann begrudgingly took it.

"What happened to you on that island?" Sadie asked.

"He saved my life," Ann answered numbly. "I'd be dead if it wasn't for him. I was chased by killer dinosaurs and nearly eaten. But he fought four of them at once just to protect me." Ann looked at Sadie. "What happened to you? I mean, where is everyone? And why isn't anyone talking to me?"

"Don't ask questions you don't want the answer to."

"I need to know."

Sadie took a deep breath. "Nineteen people went looking for you. Five people came back. We got attacked by a dinosaur and lost some there. Then we were caught in the middle of a Brontosaurus stampede and lost some there. Then we were attacked by something living in the lake and lost some there. The rest of them were lost when Kong overturned the log we were on and we fell into a ravine and were attacked by giant insects. Lumpy, Choy, Mr. Hayes…they're all gone."

Ann sighed and ran her hand down her face. It was no wonder everyone seemed to hate her at the moment.

"I didn't mean…"

"I know. But that's why we're all upset."

"He was just trying to defend his home from strangers. He didn't know any better."

"Mr. Hayes was like family to me. The same can be said for Jimmy. I may not know much about his past, but I know that Mr. Hayes was the only one to treat him like he deserved to be treated."

"Well, he still has you."

"Maybe so, but that doesn't dull the pain at all."

Ann looked away from Sadie and back towards Kong. Sadie knew that Ann shared a bond with the gorilla because of all they had been through, but she wasn't ready to forgive the killer just yet.

* * *

Sadie was asleep in bed having an extremely fitful rest.

She was dreaming that she was back on the island being chased by the dinosaurs. Then the scene transitioned and she was back in the insect pit. And this time, she was alone. No Jimmy, no Jack, no one.

She took her gun and shot the insects to keep them away from her, but she quickly ran out of bullets.

The crickets, worm-like creatures, and the scorpion/spider insects all came closer and closer to her until they were right on top of her.

Its claw stretched toward her…

Sadie gasped heavily and bolted upright. She took heaving breaths trying to regain her composure from the horrendous nightmare.

"Sadie?" her father called gently from the other side of the door.

He came into her room to find his daughter nearly having a panic attack. He quickly sat on the bed next to her and took her head in his hands, feeling the beads of sweat forming on her forehead.

"It's okay," he said tenderly, rubbing her face to wipe away the sweat and calm her down. She gripped his arms with wide eyes. "It's all right. It was just a nightmare."

Slowly, unsure of how his daughter would react, he moved closer to her and took her up in arms. To his surprise, she allowed him to hold her.

Englehorn sat there on the bed gently rubbing Sadie's head until she fell back to sleep in his embrace.

* * *

Sadie practically lived in the kitchen on the ship, replacing Lumpy as the cook.

However, she was currently on the deck, allowed a brief break from the constant cooking for the remaining passengers. As she passed her father, she gave him a hard, disappointed look before reaching the railing.

Englehorn sighed as he continued on his way. It appeared their brief moment connecting a few nights ago had not done much for their relationship. She was still angry at him for leaving. And now she was angry at him for keeping that ape locked up in the cages down below. She wanted him to be back on the island where he belonged. Why did it feel like he just couldn't do anything right?

Jimmy came up next to Sadie by the railing.

"How are you holding up?" Sadie asked him.

Jimmy sighed heavily. "I don't know."

"Yeah…I don't either."

"I see things are still tense with the captain."

"He shouldn't have taken that gorilla. He doesn't belong anywhere but that island. Just like all the other animals he's taken and sold. First, he leaves me and my mom, then he goes into this kind of business. He's such a terrible father!"

"Sadie…I think it's time you heard about what happened to me…"

* * *

 _Fifteen-year-old Jimmy's life was anything but happy. The only good thing about it was his mother's love for him. To others, that would be up for some serious debate since her son was constantly showing up places beaten and bruised. But Jimmy knew that his mother loved him even if she didn't always show it._

 _It was his father who was the problem._

 _His father was a drunk. He would come home red-eyed and vomiting at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Then he would get violent and hit his wife and son until they were covered in bruises and sprained or broken limbs._

 _His mother never did anything about it. She just stood there and took it. She tried so hard to not let him hurt Jimmy, but she could never succeed in stopping him from hurting her son. After all, he was much larger and stronger than her._

 _His father had broken his wrist four times, his leg once, and his arm three times. His mother's injuries were usually even worse._

 _And those injuries didn't include the times he had been beaten up on the streets by thugs who had nothing else to do but pick on a scrawny little kid._

 _He stepped through the door with a large cut on his forehead from his latest fight._

 _As soon as his mother saw the wound, she wet a dishtowel and sat him at the table before pressing the cloth to the cut._

 _"_ _Don't worry, darling," she said in a tender voice. "It's just bad luck right now. That's all it is. Things will get better for us. I'm sure of it."_

 _She pressed her hands to her son's cheeks and lightly kissed his head._

 _"_ _Things will get better."_

 _Around midnight that night, Jimmy was almost asleep when he heard the door slam._

 _"_ _Marilyn!" his father's voice roared._

 _"_ _Arthur, please keep your voice down. Jimmy's trying to sleep."_

 _"_ _Oh, he wants sleep, does he? Do I get to sleep like he does? No, and do you know why? Because I'm working so you can have your precious little food on the table!"_

 _"_ _It's not Jimmy's fault that you spend all our money on your precious drinks!"_

 _"_ _Don't talk back to me, you witch!"_

 _Jimmy shut his eyes tightly as he heard the familiar sound of a punch landing._

 _"_ _Arthur, stop it!"_

 _"_ _Shut up! I SAID SHUT UP!"_

 _Jimmy listened to the multiple slaps and screams from the living room. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and bolted out._

 _"_ _Get off her!" he yelled._

 _His father turned to look at him. Jimmy saw a trail of blood running down his mother's cheek where a large gash was. Her lip had split open and there was a new bruise around her eye._

 _"_ _What do you want, you piece of trash?" his father demanded. "Huh? You want me to stop? I don't recall you being the one to give orders around here!"_

 _"_ _Arthur, no!" his mother yelled._

 _His father came barreling over to the boy. He took his nearly full glass bottle and brought it down on top of Jimmy. Jimmy's arm quickly flew up to block the bottle from hitting his head._

 _Jimmy howled in pain as the bottle came in contact with his arm. His skin tore and the bone in his arm broke. He fell to the floor, holding his broken arm._

 _"_ _You're gonna regret this night!" his father growled fiercely. "You're gonna regret ever being born, you stupid little waste of space! I wish you had never shown your ugly little face into this world! Then I would've ditched your stupid mother a long time ago!"_

 _Jimmy tried to crawl away as his father loomed over him, coming closer and closer to him with the jagged end of the broken bottle still in his hand._

 _"_ _I hate you, kid. I've always hated you. And now…I'm gonna finish what I should've done fifteen years ago."_

 _The jagged end of the bottle was raised above his head, but his hand never came down._

 _Jimmy watched as his father's eyes went wide and the color drained from his face. A harsh gasp emitted from his mouth and he fell forward onto the ground in front of the boy._

 _There was a large hole in his back._

 _He looked up to find his mother holding a bloody knife. Her wide eyes went to her son with a terrified look on her face._

 _"_ _Run, Jimmy," she ordered firmly. "Run!"_

 _Jimmy quickly stood up and ran to the door. He turned around and looked at his mother one last time._

 _"_ _Run!"_

 _He bolted out of the door and ran down the streets, still holding his broken arm which was now pouring blood._

 _He didn't care where he ran as long as it wasn't back there. Tears began finding their way to his eyes partly from the pain and partly from what he had just witnessed his mother do. He quickly wiped them away before anyone saw. He kept running and running until his side hurt and he could barely breathe. His shirt sleeve was now entirely dark red and soaked in his blood._

 _He looked around him and saw that he had made it to the docks. A steamer sat in the harbor, loading up boxes and cages before it set sail._

 _Knowing that he had to get away and that it would be safer on a ship than on a New York street, he stealthily waited until no one was looking and then snuck onto the ship. He found himself down below where a lot of cages where, but luckily, no animals. He crawled into one and hid in the shadows._

 _If he could just go unnoticed until the ship left the docks, then he would be safe if only for a little while._

 _Jimmy cut off a strip of his shirt and tied it tightly above his wound, wincing as the pain intensified._

 _Worn out, he collapsed onto the straw in the cage and fell asleep._

 _It couldn't have been more than a few hours before he was awoken by footsteps descending down to where he was hiding._

 _Jimmy must've made some kind of noise or movement because the African-American man looked over to the cage he was in._

 _Jimmy slunk further into the shadows, hoping he could continue to go unseen for just a little while longer._

 _The man slowly walked in his direction. He stepped inside the cage and looked around for a second. Then he made eye contact with the young boy._

 _"_ _Now how did you get down here, son?" he asked. It didn't sound like he was too angry at him, but he didn't sound happy either._

 _Jimmy didn't respond, so the man came closer to him. He backed up even further away from him until he was practically one with the cage._

 _"_ _It's okay," the man said to him. "I'm not going to hurt you." He looked at the boy's arm and saw all the blood. "What happened to you?"_

 _Jimmy still didn't answer him._

 _"_ _Look, there's someone on this ship who can take care of that. If you'll just come with me, we can get you fixed up."_

 _Jimmy made no movement as his wide eyes looked at the man in front of him._

 _"_ _You got a name?" When he still didn't answer, he asked the boy, "Can you even understand what I'm saying to you? Are you deaf? Do you speak English?"_

 _Finally, Jimmy made a movement. He pushed the man out of the way with his good arm and bolted out of the cage and towards the steps that led to the deck._

 _The man ran after him and grabbed him around the waist before he could make it. Jimmy kicked and fought against him as much as he could, but it was useless. The man was stronger than him by far._

 _Desperate to get free, Jimmy bit the man's hand which forced him to release the boy. He took off up the stairs and started running across the deck. Various crew members looked at him in confusion, wondering who the heck the boy was and how he had gotten onto the ship._

 _The man ran after him yelling for the crew members to stop him._

 _One of them reached out and grabbed Jimmy, yanking on his broken arm. Jimmy cried out in pain and sank to the deck. He backed away from the approaching crew members until he was against the railing and couldn't back up any further._

 _The African-American man fought his way through the gathered crowd and knelt down next to the terrified boy. It was then that he realized just how deathly pale the young boy was. He had lost too much blood._

 _"_ _Look, kid. No one here is gonna hurt you. Okay? I promise. But if you don't get that arm fixed, things aren't looking too bright for you. Now, if you'll just come with me, Martin will help you."_

 _He slowly extended his hand towards the boy. It took a few seconds, but Jimmy then gingerly took his outstretched hand with his good arm._

 _The man helped him to his feet and then walked him to one of the cabins. Another man walked in behind him._

 _"_ _This is Martin," the African-American man said. "He knows how to help you."_

 _Jimmy lay down on the bed. As Martin started towards him, Jimmy tensed up and backed away from him._

 _"_ _It's okay," the man said tenderly. "He's just going to help."_

 _"_ _I need to take your shirt off," Martin said. "So I can get to your arm."_

 _Jimmy undid the makeshift tourniquet, and Martin and the man helped him get his shirt off._

 _"_ _Ben, he's going to need to be asleep for this," Martin said quietly. "From what I can see, the second I go to fix his arm, he's just going to start fighting and he'll only make it worse."_

 _The man nodded slowly. "You got any anesthetics?"_

 _Martin went into his bag and handed him a small wet cloth._

 _The man went over to Jimmy. "Breathe this in for me. It'll just put you to sleep for a little while. When you wake up, your arm will be all patched up."_

 _Jimmy shook his head, terrified of what would happen while he was unconscious._

 _"_ _I promise that you'll be just fine. Okay? I won't let anything bad happen to you. We just don't want you to feel any pain while he fixes your arm. Just lie back and relax. Everything will be okay."_

 _Jimmy liked the way this man talked to him. He had never had someone talk to him like that before. He had never had someone tell him that nothing bad would happen to him. After all, his mother couldn't tell him that when she knew she couldn't stop his father from hurting him._

 _He kept his eyes on the man and lay down onto the bed again._

 _"_ _You'll be okay, kid."_

 _"_ _Jimmy. My name's Jimmy."_

* * *

Sadie looked at Jimmy with tears in her eyes. "This whole trip…I've complained about my father when all this time…you went through that?"

"Sadie…"

"I'm so sorry."

Sadie ran to her cabin and leaned against the door. She had never felt so guilty in her life. If she had known that Jimmy had had such a rough past, she never would've complained to him so much about her father leaving her. At least he was trying to make amends. That was more than she could say for Jimmy's father.

Sadie slowly went up to the steering room where her father's cabin was.

"Daddy?" she said quietly.

"Sadie," Englehorn said quickly as he noticed the tears in her eyes. "What is it?"

"I have been so angry with you for five years. And when you tried to fix things between us, I didn't care and I pushed you away. And I acted so awful to you. But even though I've treated you terribly, you still loved me. And even though you left, you still loved me. You just made a mistake. Things could've been so much worse. I'm tired of feeling angry. I forgive you for leaving. Please forgive me for the way I've been acting."

Englehorn quickly walked over to her and hugged her tightly as tears ran down her cheeks. "Of course I forgive you."


	13. Back in New York

Sadie went to Jimmy's cabin and slowly opened the door to find him lying on his bed reading _Heart of Darkness_.

"Sadie," he said as he sat up and closed the book. "I…I didn't tell you all of that to make you feel guilty."

"I know."

Sadie closed the door and walked over to him. She sat on his bed next to him and gingerly kissed his lips. Then she straddled him as she kissed him with more fervor.

They lay down on the bed and Sadie rested her head on his chest, listening to his steady heartbeat as his hand gently moved up and down her arm.

"I'm sorry about what happened to you," she said softly.

"It's okay. It's over now. And besides, now I have you."

"Yes, you do."

"You know…I never even told Mr. Hayes that story."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I spent years trying to repress all of those memories. I don't know what it is, but for the first time, I felt comfortable enough talking about it with you."

"I'm glad you feel that way with me."

Jimmy and Sadie kissed again before resuming their previous position.

It was the most relaxed the girl had felt in weeks.

* * *

That night, Sadie tossed and turned for at least an hour in her bed. Try as she might, she could not fall asleep. She hadn't been able to have a good sleep since they had landed on the island.

She slowly got out of the bed and quietly made her way to the steering room. She entered the first room where her father kept his record player, books, and guns. Then she went over to the second door and slowly opened it.

"Daddy?" she called quietly.

Englehorn groaned softly as he opened his eyes and sat up a little. "Sadie. Are you alright?"

"Yes. Can I just…sleep in here for tonight?"

Her father paused for a second before nodding. "There's a couch right over there that you can sleep on."

"Thanks."

Sadie went over to the leather couch and lay down on it. It was more comfortable than it appeared to be. Englehorn went over to her and draped a blanket over her body. Then he placed a soft kiss to her forehead.

Sadie smiled up at him and finally dozed off.

* * *

Weeks passed as the ship sailed back to New York. When Sadie wasn't cooking for the crew, she would be up in the crow's nest with Jimmy or she usually went down to the cages to spend time with Ann who told her her harrowing journey while on the island. It helped Sadie to understand the bond the woman had formed with the animal.

Her relationship with her father had mended significantly. Sadie spent a lot more time in his cabin talking with him and telling him more about what had happened in the five years since he had left. They would stay up well into the night trading stories until Sadie was too exhausted to continue.

In turn, he taught her more about the ship and even let her steer it for a few minutes every now and again. Pretty soon, Sadie knew how to maneuver the ship almost better than half the crew members.

Sadie's heart leapt in her chest when she saw the New York skyline for the first time in twelve weeks.

Jimmy came up next to her. "So what now?"

Sadie continued to look at the approaching city. "I don't know," she answered honestly.

The ship finally pulled into the harbor and Sadie gathered up all of her bags and began to head out.

"Ann," she called as she ran into the woman in the cramped hallway. "What are your plans now?"

"Find work where I can," Ann answered her.

"What about Carl and Kong and everything?"

"Mr. Denham offered me a chance to perform in his show. But I will not perform on a stage where animal cruelty is taking place. Not when my friend is chained up like that."

Sadie sighed. "There's a theatre near where I live that's always looking for dancers. You could try there."

"Thanks. I will."

"Whatever it is you do, I'm glad to have met you. I'm sure we'll see each other again."

The two women hugged, and then Sadie went to find her father in the steering room.

"I guess this is good-bye," he said.

"For now. I told you I would decide if coming on this trip was the right decision or not. It was the right decision. I'm glad I came."

"Me too. I'll miss you, Sadie."

Sadie threw her arms around her father's neck and gave him one last smile before going back to the deck.

"Sadie!" Jimmy called.

Sadie turned to him sadly. "I know you want to know what my plans are, but…I can't tell you. I don't know what I want to do right now."

"I understand that. But I don't want to lose you…like I've lost everyone else."

"Jimmy…I…I…"

Not knowing what to say or how to respond, Sadie kissed Jimmy before quickly picking up her bags and disembarking from the ship. Her heart tore inside her chest since she didn't know if she would see him again. She wanted to, more than anything, but how could she just up and leave to spend her life on that ship?

She traveled the familiar route back to her home and stepped inside.

"Mom?" she called.

"Sadie!" her mother exclaimed as she enveloped her daughter in a tight hug. "It's been so long! I almost felt you weren't coming back."

Sadie smiled warmly and hugged her mother back. "I wouldn't dream of leaving you."

"Sadie, are…are you alright? You seem so…worn down."

"It's been a long trip."

"What happened?"

"Well, the good news is that Daddy and I are getting along again."

"That's great news! I knew this trip would be good for the both of you. What else happened?"

"Just…go see Carl Denham's new show. I think this is something you need to see rather than hear."

"Wow, that interesting, huh?"

"'Interesting' may not be the right word."

"You've got me curious now. Can I get a hint?"

"You know how Daddy captures animals? He's outdone himself this time."

"When will I be able to see this show?"

"Probably only three days knowing Carl. He's going to want to get his name out there as soon as possible."

"Well, after I see this show, I want to hear everything, okay?"

"Deal."

* * *

"It's been a lifetime, Sadie!" Amanda exclaimed as they met up for the first time since Sadie had left. "I want to know everything! Was Singapore pretty? Did you get to be in Carl's film? Was Jack Driscoll nice?"

"Whoa, calm down, Amanda," Sadie laughed lightly. "No, no, and yes. What I'm about to tell you is going to sound crazy, and you're probably not going to believe me until Carl proves me right. I haven't even told Mom anything yet."

"What are you talking about?"

"We didn't go to Singapore. We went to a place called Skull Island. And what we found there is…unlike anything you can imagine. Carl brought back a 25-foot gorilla."

"25 feet?"

"Yes. My friend, Ann, was captured by him, but by the end of the day, they shared a bond that I didn't know could exist."

"That's…incredible."

"I met a boy named Jimmy. And…I think I love him."

"Really?"

"He told me things he never even told his…father. He trusts me and takes care of me."

"It sounds to me like you want to go back on that ship."

"I couldn't even if that were true."

"Why not?"

"Because if I get on that ship, then I'll be doing the exact same thing that I've been mad at my father for."


	14. Kong, Eighth Wonder of the World

It didn't take long for Carl to get Kong's name up in lights at the Alhambra Theatre. Sadie got tickets for her and her mother and they both dressed up a little to see the show. Neither of them had anything very fancy, but it was nice enough for the event.

Due to the expensive tickets, they could only afford seats in the balcony.

Sadie and her mother found their seats and waited for the show to begin. Sadie fidgeted in her seat, nervous about how this was all going to work. She didn't see how Carl was going to be able to keep the huge gorilla in the building and get him to do what he wanted.

The orchestra started playing and Carl walked out to the center of the stage as everyone applauded.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you a very strange story."

Sadie smiled to herself. _We paid all this money for a story?_

"The story of our adventure, in which 17 of our party suffered horrible deaths, their lives lost in pursuit of a savage beast, a monstrous aberration of nature. But even the meanest brute can be tamed. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, as you will see, the beast was no match…for the charms of a girl."

The audience laughed a little, but Sadie didn't join in.

"A girl from New York!"

The audience cheered for Ann who wasn't even in the theater.

"…who melted his heart," Carl continued. "Bringing to mind that old Arabian proverb: 'And lo, the beast looked upon the face of beauty, and beauty stayed his hand. And from that day forward, he was as one dead.' And now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to show you the greatest thing your eyes have ever beheld. He was a king in the world he knew, but he comes to you now a captive. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you…Kong! The Eighth Wonder of the World!"

The curtain lifted up behind Carl to reveal the giant ape with chains around his arms, legs, and waist. He looked absolutely miserable. Almost like he had lost the will to live.

Her mother gasped next to her, but all Sadie could do was look on in sadness. That gorilla should be back on Skull Island where he belonged.

"You mean to tell me that you were on a ship with that?" her mother whispered to her.

"It's…a lot more complicated than that."

"Don't be alarmed," Carl announced. "It's perfectly safe. These chains are made of chrome steel! Observe, if you will…" He raised his hand and placed it on Kong's arm. "I am touching the beast. I am actually laying my hand on the 25-foot gorilla."

Kong flinched a little and Carl quickly jumped back in surprise. The audience laughed at his reaction. The chains on Kong's arms began to lift up until they were up in the air almost above his head. Sadie shook her head. It was no wonder Ann didn't want to participate.

Sadie looked over and saw Jack enter the theater near where she was sitting. He stopped on the steps and looked to the stage.

"And now, we have in the auditorium tonight a surprise guest. The real-life hero of this story. The man who hunted down the mighty Kong! The man who risked all to win the freedom of a helpless female."

Sadie scoffed lightly. Ann Darrow was anything but a 'helpless female'. Helpless females didn't sprint from V-Rexes and manage to win over the heart of a 25-foot gorilla.

"A big hand for Mr. Bruce Baxter!"

Sadie's mouth dropped open as Bruce Baxter ran onto the stage next to Carl, soaking in all the applause. "The little jerk!" she yelled in a whisper.

"Sadie!" her mother scolded.

"I'll be right back."

"Sadie, we paid good money for these tickets."

"I'm just going to talk with someone. I won't be far." She left her seat and went over to Jack. "That should be you."

Jack turned to look at her. "We should all be up there. Especially you and Jimmy. The both of you deserve a little recognition for what you went through."

They watched as 'natives' did a little dance around Bruce who pretended to laugh. Then they revealed a chief in an extravagant cape and headdress.

Sadie sighed. This was nothing like what they had faced back on the island. She may not have run into any of the natives, but she had seen what they could do. The image of Andy came back into her mind and she forced back the bile in the back of her throat.

"He was right," Preston said as he joined the two of them. "About there still being some mystery left in this world, and we can all have a piece of it for the price of an admission ticket."

"That's the thing you come to learn about Carl," Jack told him. "His unfailing ability to destroy the things he loves."

Bruce started dancing with one of the female 'natives'. He sure hadn't danced with any of the real ones.

"Please remain calm, ladies and gentlemen," Carl addressed the audience. "For we now come to the climax of this savage ritual. The sacrifice of a beautiful young girl. Behold her terror as she is offered up to the mighty Kong! A big hand, folks, for the bravest girl I've ever met: Miss Ann Darrow."

Sadie raised her eyebrows. Had Ann changed her mind?

Two posts were raised up from below the stage with a blonde-haired woman tied in between them.

Sadie watched how Kong reacted to the woman. He stood up on his legs and looked concerned for her. But when the woman raised her head up, Sadie almost laughed at Kong's disgusted reaction.

The woman let out an extremely unconvincing scream. "Save me from the beast!" she cried. "Help me!"

Well, it definitely wasn't Ann. How did that woman get hired?

Kong let out a loud, long, angry roar.

"Where is she?" Jack asked. "Where's Ann?"

"I have no idea," Preston answered. "I heard he offered her all kinds of money and she turned him down flat."

"She told me she didn't want to participate in a show where her friend was treated like this," Sadie explained. "And after seeing all this, I don't blame her."

Kong started to roar furiously.

"No," Jack whispered.

The actress began screaming for real. Sadie watched as Kong practically lunged at the poor actress who now looked absolutely terrified.

"We have to get these people out of here. Everyone needs to leave, okay? Come on. Head for the exits."

"Get your own seat, buddy," an older gentleman said to Jack. "You're not having mine."

Sadie attempted to help as well. "Excuse me," she said to some people in the row close to her. "We're having a problem. I think it's best if you leave."

"Did you not hear Mr. Denham?" one lady said to her. "That ape can't break out of those chains."

The cameras started flashing from the side of the stage and that seemed to anger Kong even more. The actress started pushing her legs on the posts, trying to escape from their hold.

Kong mustered up all of his strength and broke the chain restraining his right hand. Everyone finally realized the gravity of the situation and began to flee from their seats. The actors playing the natives ran offstage leaving the poor actress playing Ann tied up between the posts.

Kong swept her up in his hand and roared in her face before tossing her to the side.

"Go! Go! Get out!" Preston yelled to everyone.

Kong broke the other chain that held his left arm, then leapt into the audience, crushing one of the orchestra members.

"Sadie, get out of here!" Jack ordered as he pushed her up the stairs.

"Sadie!" her mother yelled.

The two women ran out to the lobby and then down the stairs until they were outside.

"Mom, get home now!" Sadie told her mother.

"What? Where are you going?"

"To stop this."


	15. Sadie Accepts the Truth

Sadie ran down the sidewalk and hailed a cab just as Kong burst out of the Theatre.

"I need to get to the De Luxe Theater fast!" she ordered.

The cab driver looked at the huge ape in front of him. "Do it yourself, lady! I didn't sign on for this!"

The cab driver practically dove out of the car and ran off. Sadie groaned and rolled her eyes as she moved over to the driver's seat. She looked at Kong and saw him get hit by cars that were swerving in their attempts to avoid him. He tossed several cars out of his way and then picked up several women with blonde hair.

He was looking for Ann.

Sadie floored the gas pedal and drove to the De Luxe Theater a few blocks from where she lived. She tried her best to avoid cars and panicking pedestrians, but at least four cars were scratched in some way as she sped down the road.

Sadie pulled up to the theater just as Ann was coming out the doors.

"Sadie?" Ann exclaimed at the sight of the girl. "What's going on?"

"Kong escaped from the theater, and he's on a rampage in the city. You're the only one who can calm him down."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I've seen the way he acts around you."

The two of them bolted back to the cab and Sadie drove down the road following the screaming people. She swerved to a stop once the gorilla was in sight.

Sadie looked at Ann. "Go."

Ann exited the car, and Sadie watched as she slowly approached Kong. She touched his fur, and then he gently lifted her up in his hand. It was so amazing for her to see the special connection they had with her own eyes.

Kong let out a short roar and walked off with Ann in tow.

Sadie smiled a little at the unlikely friendship. Her smile disappeared as a series of tanks from the army drove past her looking for Kong. She got out of the cab and looked after them. If they hit Kong, Ann could get killed from either the bullets or the fall.

Sadie got back in the cab and drove down the streets looking for the two of them. Surprisingly, it took her a few minutes of driving until she found Kong running down the roads, crashing into cars along the way.

He soon took to the rooftops and began flying across them in order to evade the tanks and machine guns.

Sadie followed them in the cab until she found herself in front of the Empire State Building.

She exited the car once more and tried to get into the building but was stopped by men from the army who had surrounded it.

All she could do was crane her neck in an attempt to see what was happening at the top.

Planes started to circle the top of the building. She could hear Kong roaring fiercely at them, but she could barely make out anything from her position.

What she could make out was Kong standing on the very top of the Empire State Building, beating his chest and roaring at the planes as if making a challenge.

The planes circled the top and fired at Kong. He hit one of them and it came crashing back down to the ground.

Jack came up behind her and tried to get forward, but a policeman stopped him. "Nobody past this point!"

Jack didn't listen and roughly pushed past the man.

"You can't go in there!"

"Jack!" Sadie called.

He pushed through the crowd of army men and ran inside the building. He must've gotten into the elevator because he never came back out.

Sadie heard a loud scream from above her, and she thought she could make out Kong catching Ann before she fell to the hard ground.

The planes hit him again and he roared in pain. He climbed back up to the top again as the planes circled back around. He stood up on his hind legs and beat his chest triumphantly in a final stand. More bullets were fired at him and she could see him sink down.

There was a moment of silence. The planes weren't around and Kong was quiet.

Then more bullets hit him in the back and Sadie could hear him squeal which hurt her ears, and not because it was loud.

There were another few brief seconds of silence. Then Kong slid off the top of the building and began to fall.

Everyone on the ground screamed and tried to run out of the way before Kong fell on top of them.

He landed on the pavement with a thunderous crash.

Sadie put her hand to her mouth as she looked at the dead animal. Immediately, soldiers, reporters, and photographers swarmed the body.

"Boys, how about a photo?" one of them asked the soldiers.

The soldiers all posed in front of Kong's dead body. That infuriated Sadie. They would never pose in front of a human body. Kong may have been an animal, but why couldn't they show that same respect?

"That's it, folks!" a policeman shouted. "Show's over. Step back!"

Carl fought his way through the crowd and looked at what he had planned on giving him fame and fortune.

"Why'd he do that?" one of the reporters asked. "Climb up there and get himself cornered. The ape must have known what was coming."

"He's just a dumb animal," another answered. "Didn't know nothing."

"You know nothing," Sadie told him.

"Excuse me?"

"Were you there on that island with him? No, you weren't. That means you don't know anything about that animal."

"What does it matter? Airplanes got him."

"It wasn't the airplanes," Carl said. "It was beauty killed the beast."

Sadie looked over and saw Ann and Jack coming out of the Empire State Building. She fought her way through the reporters and went over to them.

"Ann!" she called.

She got closer to the woman and saw tear stains resting on her cheeks. Ann ran over to her and collapsed into her arms, crying her heart out.

Sadie rubbed comforting circles on her back as her friend cried. She couldn't even begin to understand how she felt.

She lost track of how long they stood there hugging in the middle of the street.

* * *

Sadie went back home and tiredly walked through the door.

"Sadie," her mother said to her. "I think you have some explaining to do."

Sadie let out a small laugh as she shut the door. "Take a seat." The two of them sat at the dining room table. "The first thing you should know is that none of this is Daddy's fault."

"I always love stories that start that way."

"It wasn't. It was my own selfish and stupid behavior."

For what felt like hours, Sadie told her mother everything that happened to her on the island. Her mother was about ready to faint a couple times when she got to the seriously life-threatening parts, but listened to everything she had to say. She explained how she and her father finally repaired their relationship after all that time, and how much she had enjoyed getting to be on the ocean and how she had learned how to maneuver the ship.

"I met someone," she said quietly as she began to finish her story. "And I fell in love with him."

"What was he like?"

"It's funny. I hated him at first. But then I got to know him more, and I saw how much we connected. I understand him and he understands me."

Her mother looked at her thoughtfully. "Sadie…I think we both know you belong on that ship with your father."

"But…if I go on that ship, I'll be leaving you just like Daddy did."

"No. Because you'll come back to see me. You're not leaving. You're just going away for a while. Sadie, I've haven't seen you talk so excitedly about something in years. You were never meant to stay in this little place forever. And if being out on the ocean with someone you love is where you're happiest, then you should be there. I'll be fine here, I promise."

"Really?"

"Really. Get your stuff together and go back to the harbor before you miss your chance."

Sadie smiled and hugged her mother tightly. Then she packed up as much as she could and quickly went to the docks, praying her father's ship was still there. To her relief, it was.

Englehorn turned around and saw his daughter standing a few feet away from him. She smiled broadly as she walked towards him.

"I couldn't stay away," she said.

"And your mother…?"

"She's fine with it. She's the one who encouraged me to go. If it's okay with you…I want to stay on the ship."

Englehorn laughed as he hugged his daughter. Neither of them had seen this coming.

"Sadie, there's something I wanted to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I heard about what happened with that ape."

"Kind of hard not to."

"It made me start to think. If I had just not captured it in the first place, several people would still be alive now. I know these are hard times and I need money, but it's not worth people's lives. From now on, the _Venture_ is a cargo ship only. No more animal transport."

Sadie smiled again, and then took her bags and boarded the ship, quickly putting everything in the same cabin she had used before.

She went up onto the deck and went to the front of the ship. A small breeze kissed her cheeks that smelled of salty air.

"Sadie?" a quiet voice said behind her.

Sadie turned to find Jimmy looking at her.

"What are you doing here?"

"You didn't think I was just going to leave you, did you? How could I when…I love you?"

Jimmy gave her a small smile. "I love you too."

Sadie ran up to him and kissed him passionately. As various crew members passed by on the deck and on the docks below to prepare for other voyages, neither teenager noticed them.

It was an unlikely place to fall in love.

Sadie may have been unhappy about going on the trip before, but now she had never been more sure of a decision in her entire life.


End file.
